Broken Hallelujah
by Historialis
Summary: As Joey makes his steady way towards recovery, a new threat looms on the horizon for Kaiba, a threat that doesn't care who it destroys, but who is Matthew Alexander? What will happen to Olivia and Paul? Hope comes to those who have Faith...A SetoxJoey fic
1. Precision

**Broken Hallelujah - By MandaMcMoo**

This is a SetoxJoey fic. It's rated high for language, and leaves me room to Lemonify if I feel like it later on, not to mention depending on how much you beg!

It doesn't need a premise, it explains itself pretty well. Yes the title is a song reference, but I don't think I'll mention it directly in the text.

By the way before you start complaining about my spelling, I'm English, and this is how we spell brunette and blonde, colour, favourite etc. Don't moan, just try to live with it please.

Also, for now I'm putting speech in _italics. _This is because in future I'll be adding different perspectives and characters will interact with non-spoken communication, but I'll explain that all as it comes.

Are you sitting comfortably? Well, without further ado I guess I'll begin….

* * *

**Chapter One - Precision**

It was a quarter to seven, he knew it instinctively. The habit was now so well formed that he didn't even need to look at his watch. He left swiftly.

Shutting the car door behind him he mounted the steps towards the imposing front door. He was on the third step when the front door was flung open.

_"Seto!"_

The tall brunette smiled as the small arms clamped around his waist. Picking his brother up by the underarms he carried him into the mansion.

_"Mokuba, I will never understand why you always look so surprised to see me, even though I make certain to be home at the same time every evening."_

They sat together at the dinner table, Mokuba jabbering away about his day, Seto occasionally interjecting with a question, a word of praise, or a general acknowledgement. It was time well spent, the elder Kaiba soaked up these brightly coloured fragments as if they were life itself. His work was interesting enough to him, but here was passion, excitement, real life. Mokuba may have felt that he was boring his brother, but he could never understand just how precious these moments really were.

Bedtime for Mokuba was at nine, although Kaiba was considering giving him an extra half an hour in the near future. Unfortunately that would mean less time for himself, but it was a sacrifice he was willing to make.

Before then there was a good hour and a half together. This time was generally divided between homework help and reading. It was a habit they'd never really grown out of. The books aged with them, at the moment Dickens was a particular favourite. They would sometimes read alternate chapters, sometimes paragraphs, and even if it were a play (they had recently completed a phase of Ibsen) divide the voices between them. General custom was for Mokuba to be the girls, although Seto had been known to play an old crone for comic value.

Once Mokuba was in bed it really depended on what was happening. If more work was required, then Seto could calmly work his way through until breakfast the next morning, and even if not he might still clock up an extra hour in preparation for the next day. There was usually homework, mostly a formality but on odd occasions tedious. He gave himself a half hour for his journal, maybe another half an hour for a bath if he felt like it. Every evening was the same, as it drew to a close he would feel its pull upon him, the thing he couldn't ignore. He was trying to avoid doing it with all his soul, putting it off in the same way every night as if he could convince himself somehow.

But, as ever, eventually he made his way down the corridor into the third room on the left. Two hours later he came out in a foul mood and went to bed. Like every night.

_"Every fucking night."_

* * *

So...what do you think? This is only my second fanfic after a one-shot on Ouran. All comments gratefully received! 

Grateful thanks to my Mum for putting up with me, my boyfriend for...putting up with me and my beloved flatmate and Beta Crystal-Nimrodel for being absolutely insane with me!!

Disclaimer - Don't own the characters and don't want to.


	2. Sketching

**A Note:** Hi everyone. As I said before, speech will be in _italics_. I'm using this to show the difference between what's actually said out loud, and what goes on internally, or on paper. In the next few chapters I'll begin using more direct switches of perspective, but we'll cross that barrier when I come to it ok?

Happy reading!

* * *

**Chapter 2 - Sketching**

The only thing that stopped Joey Wheeler eating at the Mutuo's every night was the thought of his father sitting alone. So when Yugi's Grandpa called out at around six every evening:

"_Yugi? It's dinnertime. Is Joey staying?"_

Joey would always make his hurried goodbye and leave. Yugi sighed to himself as he watched his best friend hare off down the street - Joey had no sense of time. He'd happily play Duel Monsters till midnight and never know it was after six.

The blonde seventeen-year old knew that if he pegged it at the point when Gramps told Yugi his dinner was ready, he could get home before his Dad did. Unfortunately, as he turned the last corner before he got onto his own street, he saw a kid lose a ball over a fence.

He sighed as he mounted the steps to the apartment. If only once he could just ignore something like that. He shook his head, knowing he neither could nor would. He paused at the door, knowing how depressed his Dad would be at coming home to an empty apartment. He knew the evening was over before it had even begun, no matter how hard he tried.

He took a deep breath.

"_But I will always try."_

He opened the door.

Dumping his bag behind the sofa he wandered into his bedroom to get changed.

"_Dad!"_ he yelled, pulling his t-shirt over his head,_ "I'm home! I just spent some time at Yugi's after school."_

"_Ok son."_ Came the reply through the paper-thin wall. Joey's Dad sighed to himself. He'd never be able to give Joey the best in life, or even anything like it. He knew that when Joey was at Yugi's house he could use a computer and be warm. Joey not being in when he got there just reminded him. He wished that his job paid better, or that Serenity and his wife were still around, but it just didn't work that way. Sometimes he almost wished that for Joey's sake she'd taken both of them. At least then he would find it easier to contribute, he could have moved back in with his parents so he didn't have to find rent money. Not that it mattered. Still, he wished he didn't have time to think about this stuff.

Joey sighed as he started to work in the kitchen. Living with a parent who was suffering from depression was tough and it only got tougher as his Dad got worse. He knew that those bastards he worked with were bullying him, but the only thing that either of them could do about it was to make the evenings as happy as possible, and he'd already failed to do that.

Three hours later, Joey was sitting alone in the living room trying to pretend he couldn't hear his father cry. He knew that it hurt his Dad's pride to be comforted by his teenage son, knew that it cut him deep to be soothed by the boy he was supposed to be protecting. Also, as much and as vehemently as he would have denied it, it made him angry. It gave him a sense of building, balling frustration tightening around within him like a vice in his head until he felt he'd just crack and scream.

"For fuck's sake stop whining you sad bastard! Just for once can't you get some fucking spine and be strong for me? Fuck! FUCK!"

But he never would, he'd just leave the room for a little while 'to fetch something' and kick the shit out of the pillow he kept under his bed. He couldn't destroy his own father like that.

Now, as the sobs died away, Joey began to get that itchy feeling in his arm. He smiled broadly and ran to get his sketching things from his room.

He began by pooling some soft lead on a piece of scrap paper. 7B to be exact. He took his smudge stick and used it to pick up some lead. He was going to draw a profile, one of his favourite things to do. He used the smudge stick to create a rough outline and filled in the space to form a base. He got out a charcoal stick, feeling that a roughness in texture was somehow more appropriate to his mood. He started with the nose, giving its sweeping perfection a jaggedness that was equally beautiful. The eyes too were dark, but the coal black gave them a sort of lustrous quality. A scorning mouth and then the hair, dark swooping arcs across the page. He looked at his completed work.

"_Kaiba?"_ He wondered aloud. Not that he had never drawn Kaiba before. Sometimes sketching from the back of the class one of the CEO's knees would protrude into a picture, but to have drawn his face? To actually study the features of Seto Kaiba? That would be an interesting prospect, but an impossibility to accomplish. No doubt he'd find himself assaulted by some goon, or even Kaiba himself.

Before he went to bed Joey propped up his work by the bedroom door while he packed his bag for Gym, one of the few classes he enjoyed. The image seemed to ask for further study, as if it might somehow grow into a larger picture, waiting for further inspiration.

* * *

Chapter 3 up soon! Keep reading! 

Disclaimer - Sadly I am not the rich SOAB that owns this set of characters, but I do own the plot!


	3. Gym

**A Note to Bakura fangirls** - I promise I'm not having a dig at Bakura in this chapter, it just seemed to fit quite well don't kill me or anything! (Runs in terror from mob of marauding fangirls!)

Oh yes! **A More General Note - **I don't know if it's grammatically correct, but when I use '-!' in a piece of dialogue or whatever it indicates and interruption, a point where someone is cut off in the act of speaking/thinking/writing, whether by someone or something. Just so you know.

I also don't do Gymnastics, so this is based on research which I have done for the purpose. If you find errors please let me know.

Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 3 - Gym**

Joey was excited when he woke the next morning. His Gym kit lay at the end of the bed next to the sketch. He dressed quickly and hurried off for school, eating toast left out by his father for him as he ran. He had good reason to feel the butterflies. Today was the first time since Grade School that they'd been given the chance to do Gymnastics. Apart from Duel monsters and sketching, Gymnastics was one of the few things that Joey felt he could do well at. In fact he was a leading member of the regional squad. He trained on Monday and Thursday afternoons instead of going to Yugi's, and most Saturday mornings as well. Maybe today he'd be brave enough to show everyone hat he was capable of. Maybe he'd finally be able to admit to the gang that he was thinking of trying out for the national squad in the next few months. None of them even knew he did it, apart from Bakura who took contemporary dance in the community hall once the Gym equipment had been put away.

Gym started after break. In the changing rooms Seto Kaiba was getting into his kit. In the toilets. Again. It was bad enough he had to bare his legs to the screaming fangirls (and guys), without being seen topless by the drooling morons. He changed quickly and resumed his usual stance, leaning against the lockers by the door. He glanced around for the opportunity to mock some of the more pathetic weaklings when his eyes lighted upon the sight of Joey Wheeler, facing away from him, taking off his shirt.

"Ah! Wheeler!" He thought to himself, "Lets see the puppy fat mutt. I bet -! Oh."

His eyes widened. The shirt was lifted up as if in slow motion before his eyes, revealing toned, but not overly muscular, flesh. Seto was no weakling, and knew enough about muscle structure to know that the display of upper body strength he was seeing here implied a good deal of arm strength too. The skin was taut and golden over the tightly wound elegance of a back that put Kaiba's own to shame. Maybe Wheeler wasn't the runt he seemed. Seeing the boy slip out of the locker room quietly a few minutes later, he followed, intrigued.

The first thing Joey did as he jogged into the Gymnasium was smile. He was surprised to see such a variety of equipment. He'd had to cross the field to get to the Gymnasium building, and so had built up enough body heat in the run to start his warm up effectively.

"_Right." _He muttered to himself, slipping off his shoes and stepping onto the mats, _"Top to bottom."_

Reaching his arms high above his head he stretched up as high as he could, before dropping his hands and rolling his shoulders and neck simultaneously. He worked out the muscles in his arms, rotating joints and flexing. He felt good, knowing his body was in the best condition it had ever been in.

Seto Kaiba, who on a point of principle had not run despite his curiosity, walked in as Joey, facing away from him, bent over to place his hands squarely on the floor, with plenty of elbow flexibility besides. The sight of the boy's arse waggling in the air was enough to make the brunette smirk, but he held it in and retreated to the shadows to watch. It wasn't a bad arse really.

Joey looked around and tried to decide what to use first: parallel bars; pommel horse; rings? He did a few cartwheels and back-flips over the mats to check his condition, and was walking on his hands when he decided. Not that there was much of a difficulty really. Given a choice of a thousand different pieces of apparatus and he's still go for the High-Bar every time. The teacher wasn't around yet, and the others were busy towel-whipping each other and trying to find out who had man-boobs. He wasn't exactly going to get much chance to freestyle later.

He was surprised to see that the High-Bar had even had a pit installed with it. The school certainly did have money to burn. He laughed, wrapping up his hands and dusting them up. As he moved towards the bar he felt the adrenalin begin to build within his veins. He performed the ritual, a double neck roll and a clap of the hands. The High Bar was his speciality.

With no one around to lift him up he'd have to jump for it. Not best practice but his only real option under the circumstances. He tried to imagine Yugi lifting him and laughed again.

First strength, bringing up his ankles to the level of his hands, his legs running parallel to his body. Then he began to swing.

Kaiba stood in the doorway, cast in shadow, his eyes widening as he watched Joey spin. Utterly graceful, Joey circled the bar, changing from over to undergrip, twisting in mid-air, seeming to defy gravity, floating over the bar, before plummeting down, bringing his chest close to the bar again. It was incredible, that bigmouthed Wheeler could hide such a talent, such a secret so well. That the usually scatty blonde haired boy could be so elegant and so controlled, his body a symphony of movement.

Joey was in, as he so eloquently put it: "DA ZONE". Left to his own devices, without his coach nagging at him to pull of some fancy trick or another, he flew. This was the real High Bar: that place between flying and falling; that utter concentration it took to change his grip; the challenge of seeing how many turns he could fit into one rotation. His body sang with happiness, but he remained silent, having learnt very early on that being vocal within your technique often meant landing, quite literally, on your face.

He was ambitious and his actions were dangerous, but hell it wasn't like anyone was watching if he fell. He wanted to try it, to see if he could pull off the dismount he'd been attempting for months without the pressure of being watched. Feet flying over him for the last time, he prepared and made the move: a triple twisting double straight dismount. It was only his third attempt and one of the hardest moves in gymnastics.

As Joey tumbled in the air Seto opened his mouth in a silent gasp. Surely he'd miss? Blood rushed into his ears as the boy fell, hair spinning outwards like Golden silk.

Joey made it feet first into the pit for the first time in his life. His triumphant cry rang across the whole Gym.

"_Woohoo!"_

At that point the crowd of boys entering the building swept past Kaiba, led by the teacher.

"_Wheeler! What the hell do you think you're doing in that pit?" _

* * *

Heh, that was a rather lively chapter wasn't it? _Chapter 4 - An Afternoon and an Evening _to come soon. More review please! 

Thanks again to Crystal-Nimrodel and everyone else etc blah blah blah...

No guys, I'm sory to admit that I do not own these characters.


	4. An Afternoon and An Evening

**A General Note** - Right, from now on I will be introducing different perspectives into the text. The first one will be Kaiba's journal entries and then there'll be Joey's mind ramblings while he sketches from the next chapter onwards. These changes will occur within chapters and so I want to explain how I'm going to indicate the changes.

xXx - This means that the next voice will be an excerpt from Seto's journal.

- - - Will show when Joey is speaking.

o o o - A return to normal 3rd person narration.

If you can't remember this however, don't worry. It should be pretty clear who is saying what unless I don't want it to be!

Also I want to thank Growing Pain for all his/her help and reviews. And Girlo and of course Crystal-Nimrodel!

Anyway, let the show, as it were, go on…

* * *

**Chapter 5 - Dreamers**

I am walking down a long corridor. Someone is behind me, Joey? When I turn around there is no-one there and the corridor stretches out in an equal distance behind me, but I smile because I know now that he's there. The world around me is monochromatic, I look down and I seem to be wearing my Gym kit.

I can hear a voice. Someone is shouting or screaming or laughing, I cannot tell which. I begin to run, chasing the voice until I come to a door on the right hand side. Opening the door the voice becomes louder and I feel my expression brighten as I recognise it. Putting my hand on the door handle I step inside.

At first it is bright, too bright for me to see anything at all, but my eyes begin to focus on his face as I grow accustomed to it. It's Joey and suddenly we're back in the Gymnasium again. He's dismounting the High Bar but this time he lands on a mat instead of disappearing into a pit. His face is concentrated but happy. He glances over in my direction and grins at me, his amber eyes locked onto mine. Something in that look says: "Watch this". Like I wouldn't anyway?

As he goes into a cartwheel I realise he is shirtless, but I can only really see him from behind again. He's making his way towards me, in rolls and flips and impossible tumbles. It's like he weighs nothing, or we're in outer space. I feel my heart clench in my chest as he suddenly stops in front of me, face upturned to mine, flushed, his brow damp, exhausted but beaming with happiness. Without even thinking about it I put my hand on his shoulder.

"You were amazing Joe."

He grins, his eyes so warm I feel as if my own might melt. "I couldn't do it without you." He whispers, putting his hand on my cheek.

My hand slips up onto his neck; I can feel his perspiration on my fingertips, scalding hot. My arm snakes around his waist and I pull him tight against me, faces inches apart. We stand there, breathing hard, eyes flickering over one another's faces, and then our lips lock together.

I wrenched myself awake, gasping for air as if I were drowning, aware of the stinging of my fingertips. The bed sheet is smeared with blood from where I clutched at it, reopening the cuts from that sodding wire. I could feel the throbbing of my blood within my veins, my heart pounding as though I would die. There's a roaring in my ears still. My confusion is utter, the fact is undeniable.

I want Joey Wheeler.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Joey was sitting in his living room. It was one o'clock in the morning but his sketch was finally complete. He propped it up against the bookcase and stepped back, pushing his hair from his face and smearing his forehead with charcoal in the process. He was really proud this one. It was almost tactile: you could feel the calves tapering into the elegant ankles, the thighs disappearing into the shorts. That shirt, soft and rippling over his shoulders, the face glancing back over it with the tiniest hint of a 'come hither'.

"_Wait a minute…did I even put that in there?"_

Joey leant forward to peer into the eyes, rubbing his chin with his hand and leaving a glorious black smudge that could easily have been mistaken for facial hair if it wasn't in such contrast with the golden mane that crowned his head. He squinted, he stared, he examined but it the look was undeniably there. Joey felt something squeeze inside of him as he looked into those eyes. To actually be able to study the features, even though he'd drawn them himself, gave him a good insight into his rival. The line of the eyes and the mouth were capable of expressing emotion even if Joey had never been allowed to see it. This was a face that could laugh or cry. Joey wondered what that would look like.

"_Ugh! Come on Joe, this is Seto Kaiba! Not some random stranger you can pretend has a great personality. You already know he's a jerk."_ He muttered to himself as he slouched off to the bathroom.

After washing his face and pulling off his clothes into a heap on the floor, Joey lay on his bed in his boxers, one hand behind his head and the other on his stomach. Something in that picture wouldn't leave his mind. There was something so compelling in the eyes and the turn of the mouth. Could he really be thinking this way about Kaiba? He'd have to be some kind of moron. After all they were rivals, the whole world knew it. Not to mention that he was a jerk. To think of the way he'd treated them, no to mention all those idiotic girls who liked him. That and he was a jerk.

And yet he couldn't stop the pictures before his eyes: Kaiba with Mokuba, when there had been tenderness in those eyes; Kaiba defeated with that look as if the whole world had ended. He'd often thought of Kaiba's eyes being like balls of ice - frozen and piercing, but he had seen tenderness there. Could he ever look at Joey in that way?

"_Geez what does it matter it's only a freakin' crush."_ He moaned as he rolled off the bed and went to get into his pyjamas.

He had at least admitted that it was a crush.

* * *

No moaners about this one - I write in the present when I write down my dreams, and I figured Seto would too. It helps me remember them. Nyer. 

Poor Seto's fingers. I also feel sorry for the housemaid who'll have to wash his bloody bedclothes.

I don't own Yugioh or any of this. Waa.

New Chapter will be up ASAP!


	5. Dreamers

**A General Note** - Right, from now on I will be introducing different perspectives into the text. The first one will be Kaiba's journal entries and then there'll be Joey's mind ramblings while he sketches from the next chapter onwards. These changes will occur within chapters and so I want to explain how I'm going to indicate the changes.

xXx - This means that the next voice will be an excerpt from Seto's journal.

- - - Will show when Joey is speaking.

o o o - A return to normal 3rd person narration.

If you can't remember this however, don't worry. It should be pretty clear who is saying what unless I don't want it to be!

Also I want to thank Growing Pain for all his/her help and reviews. And Girlo and of course Crystal-Nimrodel!

Anyway, let the show, as it were, go on…

* * *

**Chapter 5 - Dreamers**

I am walking down a long corridor. Someone is behind me, Joey? When I turn around there is no-one there and the corridor stretches out in an equal distance behind me, but I smile because I know now that he's there. The world around me is monochromatic, I look down and I seem to be wearing my Gym kit.

I can hear a voice. Someone is shouting or screaming or laughing, I cannot tell which. I begin to run, chasing the voice until I come to a door on the right hand side. Opening the door the voice becomes louder and I feel my expression brighten as I recognise it. Putting my hand on the door handle I step inside.

At first it is bright, too bright for me to see anything at all, but my eyes begin to focus on his face as I grow accustomed to it. It's Joey and suddenly we're back in the Gymnasium again. He's dismounting the High Bar but this time he lands on a mat instead of disappearing into a pit. His face is concentrated but happy. He glances over in my direction and grins at me, his amber eyes locked onto mine. Something in that look says: "Watch this". Like I wouldn't anyway?

As he goes into a cartwheel I realise he is shirtless, but I can only really see him from behind again. He's making his way towards me, in rolls and flips and impossible tumbles. It's like he weighs nothing, or we're in outer space. I feel my heart clench in my chest as he suddenly stops in front of me, face upturned to mine, flushed, his brow damp, exhausted but beaming with happiness. Without even thinking about it I put my hand on his shoulder.

"You were amazing Joe."

He grins, his eyes so warm I feel as if my own might melt. "I couldn't do it without you." He whispers, putting his hand on my cheek.

My hand slips up onto his neck; I can feel his perspiration on my fingertips, scalding hot. My arm snakes around his waist and I pull him tight against me, faces inches apart. We stand there, breathing hard, eyes flickering over one another's faces, and then our lips lock together.

I wrenched myself awake, gasping for air as if I were drowning, aware of the stinging of my fingertips. The bed sheet is smeared with blood from where I clutched at it, reopening the cuts from that sodding wire. I could feel the throbbing of my blood within my veins, my heart pounding as though I would die. There's a roaring in my ears still. My confusion is utter, the fact is undeniable.

I want Joey Wheeler.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Joey was sitting in his living room. It was one o'clock in the morning but his sketch was finally complete. He propped it up against the bookcase and stepped back, pushing his hair from his face and smearing his forehead with charcoal in the process. He was really proud this one. It was almost tactile: you could feel the calves tapering into the elegant ankles, the thighs disappearing into the shorts. That shirt, soft and rippling over his shoulders, the face glancing back over it with the tiniest hint of a 'come hither'.

"_Wait a minute…did I even put that in there?"_

Joey leant forward to peer into the eyes, rubbing his chin with his hand and leaving a glorious black smudge that could easily have been mistaken for facial hair if it wasn't in such contrast with the golden mane that crowned his head. He squinted, he stared, he examined but it the look was undeniably there. Joey felt something squeeze inside of him as he looked into those eyes. To actually be able to study the features, even though he'd drawn them himself, gave him a good insight into his rival. The line of the eyes and the mouth were capable of expressing emotion even if Joey had never been allowed to see it. This was a face that could laugh or cry. Joey wondered what that would look like.

"_Ugh! Come on Joe, this is Seto Kaiba! Not some random stranger you can pretend has a great personality. You already know he's a jerk."_ He muttered to himself as he slouched off to the bathroom.

After washing his face and pulling off his clothes into a heap on the floor, Joey lay on his bed in his boxers, one hand behind his head and the other on his stomach. Something in that picture wouldn't leave his mind. There was something so compelling in the eyes and the turn of the mouth. Could he really be thinking this way about Kaiba? He'd have to be some kind of moron. After all they were rivals, the whole world knew it. Not to mention that he was a jerk. To think of the way he'd treated them, no to mention all those idiotic girls who liked him. That and he was a jerk.

And yet he couldn't stop the pictures before his eyes: Kaiba with Mokuba, when there had been tenderness in those eyes; Kaiba defeated with that look as if the whole world had ended. He'd often thought of Kaiba's eyes being like balls of ice - frozen and piercing, but he had seen tenderness there. Could he ever look at Joey in that way?

"_Geez what does it matter it's only a freakin' crush."_ He moaned as he rolled off the bed and went to get into his pyjamas.

He had at least admitted that it was a crush.

* * *

No moaners about this one - I write in the present when I write down my dreams, and I figured Seto would too. It helps me remember them. Nyer. 

Poor Seto's fingers. I also feel sorry for the housemaid who'll have to wash his bloody bedclothes.

New Chapter will be up ASAP!


	6. Thursday

Ok, I only updated earlier today, but I've had some really good thoughts about redrafting this next bit and I'm afraid I can't wait to try them any longer.

Here goes, by the way I'm pretty sure that this will have to return to an M rating for the next chapter, but I shall consult with those of greater knowledge than my own and see how it occurs.

Ooh! I'm excited because Joey's actually going to talk

* * *

**Chapter 6 - Thursday**

I'm sitting at the breakfast table, doodling a little picture of a horse on the bottom of my Maths book. In my mind the horse is a palomino, a wild horse that canters over deserts and meadows, a horse that is free. Sometimes animals are easier to understand than humans.

My Dad staggers out of his room. I can tell he slept badly because he's drinking coffee instead of juice. He sighs as he sits down at the table. Well, I say sit, it's more like someone just dumped a sack of potatoes on that chair.

"_Morning."_ I say, not daring to look up into those eyes. I can feel them burn into my scalp. He needs me, but how can I be there for him? I'm just a kid, a helpless fucking kid.

He doesn't answer. He wants more from me. He wants me to go down with him, to drag me down with his own despair. He's so selfish, to sit like that and look at me with those eyes that beg, that need, that want.

I look down onto the page and it's become a scrawl. The beautiful horse it shattered by jagged lines. My Maths book is a mess.

I hate school, I hate classes, I hate Maths, and I hate Mrs Morton, the jumped up bag who teaches it. Right now, as I watch my Dad crying into his breakfast cereal, I just hate everything.

xXx xXx xXx

It's Thursday afternoon, and I'm sitting in Maths even though it is pointless. I finished my work ages ago, and now I'll just add to my journal for a while. The cut under my eye is stinging, and my fingertips being in the state they are means I need to take a few days off before I try again. What a terrible shame.

I am currently at the back of the class, sat behind Wheeler. The mutt is dazing off into God knows what place in his head and isn't doing his work. I almost feel like jabbing him the back of the skull or something just to see him jump.

This is a different Joey. The Joey I saw yesterday was concentrated and in control of himself. His poise was perfect and his body moved flawlessly under his command. His physique was undoubtedly one of the finest I have ever seen. That sort of physical activity takes such a great deal of willpower to manage, such concentration. How can this slob who is sat at his desk drooling into the palm of his hand even be the same person? Let alone capable of such grace.

It's only lust. It's the body that I'm attracted and certainly not his mind. In those brief moments in the Gymnasium, as clichéd as it probably is to say it, I found myself looking at an equal: someone with dedication, a will to achieve and control. If I could have looked into his eyes at that moment, I feel as if the distance between us might not have seemed so great. He does have his good qualities normally, his honesty and loyalty are things I do admire, and wish I could employ in my own life, but that's impossible in business, because it leads to weakness as it does sometimes in that boy.

Not that Joey in what I shall term 'puppy mode' isn't adorable in its own way.

I have to stop talking like this. I have to stop this madness before it gets out of hand. He has nice hands though.

Oh shut up shut up shut up.

Shit.

o o o o o

Joey was sat near to the back of the class, daydreaming in order to keep his mind from straying into darker territory. It was a method he had employed well for many years. He knew that Kaiba was behind him. Knew that if he reached back with his hand now he'd find Kaiba's knee. He could imagine running his index finger along the inside of the C.E.O.'s thigh. He shuddered imperceptibly, knowing his mind was too far gone to even contemplate the mound maths that was steadily growing in front of him.

If he jumped Kaiba, imagine how wide his eyes would go with surprise. The taller boy would be stunned, too stunned to move for a moment, but then he would relax. Much more likely he would throw the golden haired boy to the floor before kicking him where it would hurt the most, but this was, after all, Joey's fantasy. He would relax into the kiss allowing their bodies to press together. Joey could loosen his grip on that satin-skinned face and let his fingers wander in the soft chocolaty locks. Dark head bent towards him, Kaiba would begin to move his hands as he kissed back, lips melting softly together, all boundaries between 'mine' and 'yours' broken. He -!

"_Mr Kaiba! That does not appear to be Maths!"_

Mrs Morton the Maths teacher was now stood over Kaiba's desk looking positively livid.

"_Madam,"_ came the smooth-voiced reply, _"I have completed all the work you have set."_

"_That is beside the point!"_ she shrieked, _" Mr Kaiba if you finish your work you must inform me and ask for more exercises, not continue with your personal projects! Let me see that!"_

Her hand snapped out to grab the laptop, but Kaiba swiftly shut it. She took it anyway and opened it, attempting to switch it on.

"_I'm afraid your actions are futile," _he said, sat looking at the table without so much as a glance at his teacher, _"It will only recommence functioning with my biometric data. Data which I will not permit you to have."_

"_Permit me?" _screeched the woman, slamming the notebook down onto the desk, _"How dare you?"_

"_I would be more careful than that if I were you," _he replied, taking the fragile thing in his hands and examining it, _"It has approximately forty-thousand times your mathematical capability."_

"_Like I believe that." _Came the scorning reply.

Kaiba stopped inspecting the laptop, and scarcely moving his head, looked her dead in the eyes and raised an eyebrow.

Mrs Morton flushed a colour that was almost purple and made her way back to the front of the class without another word. The majority of her class, however, still faced the back of the room where Kaiba had returned to his journal. Eventually they returned to work.

xXx xXx xXx

That was close.

* * *

Well what do you think? **Chapter 7 - Hometime** will be up as soon as I can! 

If I owned Yugioh Tristan would die. Sorry.


	7. Hometime

Right, a **Little Note** from me to all of you.

First of all hugs to the 300+ people who have read this so far! It means a lot to me I promise. But extra special hugs to Growing pain, Girlo and Crystal-Nimrodel. Those of you who are not these three especially prized people know who you are! Review me or suffer the wrath I have no ability to throw at you!

Ooh, the tension is building! You're going to hate me! But hopefully also love me.

* * *

**Chapter 7 – Hometime**

Joey collapsed out of the classroom, laughing hysterically. Yugi and the others pretended to ignore him, but had to admit that it was becoming rather annoying by the time they reached the school gates.

"_For crying out loud Joey will you just shut up!"_ Tristan snapped angrily, _"It wasn't that funny."_

Joey leant against the wall, breathing heavily as he tried to calm down.

"_Did you see her face?" _He squeaked, panting for oxygen.

Teà rolled her eyes.

"_Yes Joey we all saw it. Now for goodness' sake just…Oh I don't know." _She waved her hand in a futile way and walked off in the opposite direction with Tristan close on her heels.

Yugi and Joey began to walk in their common homeward direction. After a while Joey spoke again.

"_That really was amazing though. She didn't even bother to ask for my work! That was, without question, the best Maths class ever!"_

He walked along with his hands on top of his head, fingers interlaced and tangled in a golden web. His face was flushed from laughing so much. His little friend looked up into his eyes with the slightest hint of a frown.

"_Kaiba didn't have to be so mean though, she seemed really upset."_

"_Yeah I know, but she's just the kind of bitch that needs a slap in the face like that once in a while, know what I mean?"_

"_Did she really deserve it though? And anyway I thought you hated it when Kaiba threw his weight around."_

"_Yeah I do, but she was really just trying to bother him for no reason, just picking a fight for the sake of it."_

The shorter boy hummed, _"I guess…Hey look Joey I know it's Thursday, but do you want to come over to mine for a bit? I got a new video game I just know you'll love."_

Joey grinned but shook his head. _"Nah sorry Yug, I just can't do it tonight. Tomorrow on the other hand…"_

"_Ok…" _The boy sounded unhappy, _"Just what is it you do on Thursday afternoons that's so important anyway."_

"_I told you, nothing major, I just got stuff. See you tomorrow Yugi."_

"_Yeah see you."_

They headed off down different streets. Joey walked for a little while in the direction of his house, but once he knew the younger boy would be out of sight he doubled back and made his way down the side-street towards the community centre.

Three hours later and Joey was cursing his luck as he tried to change into his trousers with one hand and his shirt with the other. Why the hell had no-one bothered to tell him that the Gym was staying open late because the dance classes were cancelled? His Dad would already have been sat at home alone for half an hour.

"_Aaaah shit!" _He cursed, pulling on his socks and shoes at the same time.

He got his things together and literally hared his way to the door of the changing room, flinging it open and running straight into…

"_Mokuba?"_ He said confusedly, picking the little Kaiba off the floor and setting him on his feet again. _"What are you doing here?"_

Something seemed to hit Joey hard in the chest as he looked into the large eyes. They were wide and slightly watery, they needed someone. He was obviously very upset.

"_My friend and I came for a swim her. Seto said he'd come get me himself, but he's not here."_ He sniffed. _"He's late. Seto's not supposed to be late."_

Joey sighed. Just what he needed. _"Alright kiddo I'll wait with you."_

Time ticked on. Once he had some company Mokuba chattered away happily as if nothing was bothering him, whilst Joey stood, feeling the steady build of utter dread in the pit of his stomach. It was now ten past seven, and his Dad had been home alone for the past…well it was nearly an hour. Finally after what seemed like an age, the limo drew up and the door opened.

"_Seto!" _Mokuba flung himself at his brother, who placed him gently in the seat next to him. _"What took you so long?"_

Joey tried to sidle away without breaking into a run, as Kaiba muttered something to Mokuba that was inaudible, but then…

"_Can we give Joey a ride home?"_

"_Whatever."_

Joey felt his arm grabbed by a small hand and with a remarkable display of strength from one so small was dragged forcibly into the vehicle, where he found himself sitting opposite the piercing azure gaze of the C.E.O.. He looked out of the window as the car pulled away.

Kaiba apologised to Mokuba, explaining about the idiotic airheads from such and such a company demanding a meeting as he was trying to leave. However, his eyes were on Joey. The amber-eyed boy was obviously agitated, and perspiring quite heavily. Was he afraid? He kept pushing his hand back through his hair in a way that made it stick up in odd ways. His shirt was stuck to his chest with sweat, revealing his perfect physique.

When the car stopped, Joey hurriedly gave his thanks to the brothers and charged off towards his front door. The car crept out of the cappark in front of the apartment.

They were driving away from the Kaiba mansion. The route through the town centre was not even worth attempting at this time of day, and the scenic route was prettier as well as quicker. Seto just couldn't seem to rid himself of the image of Wheeler imprinted on his consciousness. The way his hand had gripped his thighs, or the way he had bitten his lower lip. They were driving past a small park when he pushed the intercom button.

"_Stop the car please driver."_

"_Very good Mr Kaiba._

They pulled into a siding, in front of a sort of park. Kaiba leapt out onto the pavement.

"_What's wrong Seto?"_

"_Sorry Mokie."_ The boy smiled at the use of his pet name. _"I need to go for a run right now."_

He went round to the boot and pulled out a pair of trainers._ "I'll be home in half an hour or so. So get on with your homework and I let you stay up till half nine."_

Mokuba grinned as his brother pulled off his shirt leaving the white t-shirt underneath. _"Ok then, I'll tell cook."_

Seto leant over and ruffled his brother's hair with one hand as he slipped on the second trainer.

The car and the teenager went off in their separate directions. The distance they had covered meant it would be a good few minutes before he got back past Joey's apartment building. He stretched out against a picnic bench in the park, and set off.

Nothing like a run to clear the head. His head was filled with air, like cold clear water flushing it through. His feet pounded the pavement in time with his heartbeat. He tried to be more logical about things. Joey hated him, but then again that was 'puppy mode' Joey, ad not necessarily the same Joey he had seen in the Gymnasium. They hated each other surely? But then, how could he explain this feeling he had in his chest? Couldn't it all be a masquerade? Maybe the reason they irritated each other so much was that they were simply too blind to look for the real person inside? Maybe it was that little brat Yugi's fault. Maybe he had been given a chance to see a glimpse the real Joey?

Then again, what was so wrong with puppy mode? Honest, loyal and occasionally even amusing, supposedly. People always talked about what a great guy Joey Wheeler was. The only thing standing between them being friends was this rivalry with Yugi.

And then there was the thought of a relationship. Seto understood himself well enough. Girls were alien and weak and men were just, well, hot. Those few girls he had met who were strong were so ugly that it made him cringe to remember. If he ever met a girl who could match him he might be interested, but until then he was quite happy with the fact that he was openly gay. Well, open to himself at least. The relationship would cause a stir, but he would just deal with that as and when it arose. Not that he liked personal exposure.

Would? When? What was he thinking? Point fundamental – Joey hated him, and probably always would.

And….speaking of Joey….

A few minutes earlier, Joey had stood at his front door with his hand on the handle. He barely heard the car pull away, all he was aware of was the sound of his blood rushing in his ears and the terror he felt of what might await him. The urge to bolt was incredible, almost overpowering.

He opened the door. He entered.

* * *

Don't kill or maim me. Review me instead! 

If owned Yugioh I'd have bought my degree, instead of being sat here studying for it.


	8. Lose Control

Ok, this time a slightly longer **Note**, just to show you how much I care.

First of all thank you for all the reviews so far, please keep them coming, I read them all and I've really taken your thoughts on board. Particular thanks to Growing Pain again, but also to Muchacha and Zaya!

I've heard a few mentions of how short my chapters are, and I basically want to just point something out - I write until the action reaches a good end. If I were writing a play that would be the end of the scene, and it's as simple as that.

Also, I want the death threats to stop! Lol! You can't kill me if I hurt Joey! It's my prerogative! Madness!

But again, thanks to you all for reading, it means a lot that so many have already. Keep at it!

Oh yeah, and I don't own Yugioh.

* * *

**Chapter 8 - Lose Control**

As Joey stepped into the hallway, the smell hit him like a punch in the gut. The whisky bottle on the floor was almost an unnecessary reminder. Resisting the urge to gag he dropped his bag on the floor and began to remove his coat, stepping into the open area of the living room.

"_Dad? I'm home."_ He yelled, not quite sure in what direction to aim his voice. Looking around his eyes were caught by the trail of smoke coming up from the couch which faced away from him. He sighed inwardly, and stooped to retrieve the bottle from the floor. His hands were trembling as he moved to the wastepaper basket, where he found yet another empty bottle. _"Shit."_ He muttered, barely able to maintain his composure as his flesh crept over his bones.

Alone for an hour and a half, his Dad appeared to have gotten through at least two bottles of alcohol. A man who generally abstained to please his son could be a determined drinker when desperate. Joey was terrified, but whether for his father or himself he could barely tell. His father's behaviour was erratic at best. He'd never been violent before, but then, had he ever drunk this much before?

"_Oh."_ Came the slur from the couch, _"S'you izzit?"_

Joey tried to keep his voice normal, to stay bright and cheerful, _"Yeah, I'm sorry about that." _He chirped tremulously as he moved around behind the sofa, sorting scattered papers, and trying to rearrange the few ornaments that hadn't been swept into broken fragments on the floor into some sort of normal order. _"There was a fire alarm at the community centre. We were stuck outside for an hour." _He picked at the shattered pieces of a pot he'd made when he was five. He felt something rise in his throat, but whether it was rage or terror he could scarcely tell.

"_LikeIgiveafuck." _

Joey moved slowly around the sofa, and gently sat himself down on the coffee table opposite his father. He moved the plate his father had used for want of a real ashtray, and looked at the man he was supposed to look up to most in the entire world.

Sprawled over the sofa, eyes lazy and jaw slack, Mr Wheeler was obviously a mess. His shirt was somehow filthy as was his face. Joey's eyes widened as he realised that such smudges could only really come from touching charcoal, or to be more precise charcoal pictures with sweaty hands. The knot in his stomach began to burn. He tried to remain calm.

"_Hi."_ He said simply. His Dad attempted to roll his eyes in response, but it seemed to make him dizzy. A third bottle swung lazily in his hand as he dangled his left arm over the edge of the sofa. Joey felt sick. _"Where did you get this stuff?"_ He asked quietly.

Mr Wheeler forced his eyes to focus in on his only son. _"I'm an adult Joseph."_ He said, surprisingly lucid all of a sudden, _"I don't have to justify myself to you."_

An adult? Joey had to stop himself from choking on the words. How could this fucking ignorant slob before him even consider himself the adult in his situation? He suppressed his rising rage. _"Ok. Any particular reason why?"_

His father sat up suddenly and looked directly into his eyes without waver. _"Because, you idiot, it is my right as an adult to do so." _His voice was raised now, and Joey could not help but wince a little under the force of it. However as the man he was brought up by fell back into the comfort of the couch that was evidently pretty well soaked in booze itself, he felt the anger in him rise again.

"_And therefore it is your duty to get pissed out of your fucking mind?" _He shouted, barely able to keep in his feelings. He rose and turned away from his father, moving over to the window.

"_What the fuck would you know about it? You're just a dumb faggot."_

The boy who had previously been so consumed by the heat of his anger felt his blood run cold. He turned slowly back to look his father in the eye.

"_You said once you'd accept me whoever I loved." _Again his voice trembled, but not through fear.

Swimming grey eyes met firm but hurt golden. _"Well I did say that didn't I?"_

Joey sighed, and reached down towards the bottle. _"Don't even try."_

"_Come on Dad, please just give it up now." _He pleaded firmly. _"You've done enough damage."_

However his father merely jerked the hand away from him and, sitting upright.

"_You aren't the fucking police."_

"_No Dad. I'm your son."_

"_Too fucking right!" _His Dad yelled, jumping to his feet, bottle still in hand. _"A son who ought to do as he's fucking told!" _The man staggered violently in the direction of the kitchen, but was stopped when a hand landed on his shoulder. He wheeled round to face the blonde haired teen, casting the hand off him hard.

"_Not when you're like this Dad." _Joey said, rubbing his hand which had hit the doorframe. Their eyes met. _"I need to take care of you now."_

Joey winced under the rank odour of his father's alcohol-laden breath as the face drew close to his own. _"That's my job!" _He roared.

"_Then why the fuck don't you do it!" _Joey yelled back, surprised to hear the anger in own voice not to mention

Wham.

Pain. Searing hot pain gripped Joey's mind like a vice. His vision was clouded but he tried to look down at his hand. Why did his hand hurt so much? He looked up, and suddenly everything was all-too-perfectly clear.

Crouching down in the corner, Joey's father looked up at him with terror-stricken eyes, his face white as a sheet as blood poured down from an obviously broken nose. Joey's hand throbbed as his eyes connected with the devastation he'd caused.

"_Dad! Dad! Oh shit I'm sorry! Please Dad!"_

They stumbled out of the apartment: younger chasing the elder out into the open air. Leaning over the railing to the side of the staircase which ran parallel to the balcony Mr Wheeler cradled his face in his hands. The cold wind cutting him like a knife.

"_Don't touch me. I can't…Just get the fuck away from me!"_

"_Dad please! I'm sorry I didn't mean for this to happen, please forgive me!"_ Joey stumbled towards his father, clutching tightly onto his arm, eyes streaming with tears of guilt and fear and pain.

"_I said GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!" _Came the roar of a reply as yet again his arm was cast violently off, this time catching him a blow on the left shoulder. Knocked off balance by the force of the strike, Joey stumbled backwards.

"_Dad!"_

But it was too late, he lost his footing at the top of the stairs. Mr Wheeler looked up to see his only son topple backwards down the steel staircase, eyes full of terror and arms beyond his reach.

He seemed to tumble forever, falling at first gracefully with the elegance born of a well-constructed body but then horrifically as bones splintered and the body began to bend and bleed.

Mr Wheeler clutched the top of the staircase as Joey finally landed face first in the gravel. Cold horror transfixed him as he heard running feet stop

* * *

As Seto closed in on the corner before Joey's apartment building he heard voices. To be more precise, he heard Joey's voice. 

"_Dad! Dad! Oh shit I'm sorry! Please Dad!"_

Something struck him, fear? Was Joey afraid?

"_Don't touch me. I can't…Just get the fuck away from me!"_ Mr Wheeler? He quickened his pace, the voices were still distant.

"_Dad please! I'm sorry I didn't mean for this to happen, please forgive me!" _He rounded the corner, knowing that something was very wrong.

"_I said GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM ME!"_

"_Dad!"_

Seto broke into a sprint as he heard the scream, stopping abruptly as, entering the car park something landed at his feet.

He saw golden hair streaked with rapidly oozing blood. He saw limbs at awful angles. He looked up and saw the ghastly face of Joey's father staring down at him.

* * *

Well? 

There is to be another chapter. Don't you worry about that. **Chapter 9 - Limbo **will be up soon.

Now I definitely want to know what you think.


	9. Limbo

Well, I'd like to thank you all for the reaction I got to the last Chapter.

Before I begin the next I'd like you to cast your minds back to 'Lose Control'. Joey as we know ends up punching his father in a mixture of fear and rage, and then falls down then stairs outside their apartment, while his father looks down from the top. Seto who has been jogging home runs in on this scene. I want you to think about the way Joey was pleading with his Dad, what Seto actually overheard and I want you to ask yourselves:

What will Seto be thinking?

Thank you for your comments, and I hope you enjoy…

* * *

**Chapter 9 - Limbo**

The two men stood and stared at each other over the thing that lay between them. Seto blinked frequently as if trying to push away the thoughts that filled his head like white noise. So many thoughts at once that he couldn't understand or isolate a single one.

"Joey fell down the stairs. Is that his father? Metal stairs. Why's his Dad bleeding? Joey fell down the stairs. Did he push him? Joey fell down the stairs. Did his Dad push him? Joey has fallen. He has a low percentage chance of survival after a fall like that. Has his Dad been beating him all this time? Joey is hurt. Is that why he used to have those bruises? Would this have happened if I wasn't late? Maybe he wasn't fighting in gangs after all. Joey. Have I been wrong about Joey? Maybe I misjudged him. Why is his Dad not doing anything? Joey. Why can't I do anything? I'm frozen. Help. Joey. Joey."

"_JOEY!"_

Instinct overwhelmed thought as Kaiba threw himself onto his knees beside the splayed body of the blonde who lay face down in the gravel. He put his hand tenderly on the golden hair streaked and smeared with the dark red of his blood and tried to work out what he was seeing. That leg was broken, and probably that arm, there was a deep, deep gash across the back of the skull which matched a livid red splash across one of the uppermost steps. In fact on the white painted steel you could almost track Joey's progress down the flight. He had hit his head once on the fifth step when he'd first fallen and then again when he had twisted round to hit his face on the railing. Splashes of red on white. The colours of love, of purity and passion, of heaven and hell. He shook himself and continued to look. The left hand was bloody and gouged and broken by steps and bodyweight and gravel and the rest was hidden under clothes and the fact that Joey was still face down.

All Joey could see was darkness, a darkness that loomed ahead of him like a cloud. He could see, literally nothing, and yet the nothing was so dense that it had a form, a depth and a presence of its own. It pressed itself over his eyes, isolating him and yet he could not push it away, it was stronger than him, it wanted to take him, to make him one with the dark. His face hurt, and he wasn't sure he could have opened his eyes even if he wanted too, but he knew that if he didn't soon then he would lose himself in the darkness and never come back. His consciousness felt like the side of a very steep mountain and he knew he could fall at any time. He had to move. Something was very wrong with him, but he didn't know what or why. All he could think of was telling someone, letting them know what he needed, although he couldn't work out what he needed either. He tried to move his hands.

Kaiba was looking more closely at the head wound when he noticed a vague fluttering of Joey's right fingers. "Oh God he's gone into some sort of spasm." But on closer inspection, he could see there was some sort of control. He clasped the fingers in his own. _"Joey! Can you hear me?"_

A sensation, someone touching his hand? A noise like a voice but so very distant, so very far away. It spoke to him from somewhere that was not the darkness and yet the darkness was everywhere. He didn't understand. The voice was warm in amidst the cold roaring darkness. He had to let the voice know what had happened. He had fallen, he remembered now, and he had hurt his Dad, someone needed to help his Dad.

Suddenly Seto heard a metallic clang, and looked up to see Mr Wheeler edging his way down onto the first step. The man's face was smeared with blood, and his eyes were staring with fear. He felt his insides tremble at the monster advancing towards him but he held his nerve.

"_Don't you come near him! You've done enough!"_ Kaiba roared, staring the older man down until he stumbled away into what must be their apartment. The hand he was holding, without warning tensed around his own.

"_Dad…" _Joey croaked, moving his head so that Seto could see his face, torn and bleeding.

"_Joey!"_ He gasped, his azure eyes wide, _"It's all right, he can't hurt you now, I'm here."_

What? No that wasn't right. Joey's mind echoed with the words. That wasn't his Dad's voice, whose was it? He recognised it, it was a voice hidden in the part of his brain hidden in the dark, a voice he knew, he trusted. He couldn't place it…But it wasn't important, what mattered was that it wasn't his Dad and therefore his Dad must be somewhere else.

"_Where…is he?"_ The words were scarcely breathed but Seto leant in close to hear them. He had to reassure him, tell Joey that he was safe now.

"_It's ok Joey, he's not here, he can't get you, you're safe from him."_

"NO!" Came the voice like a scream in the muffled dullness of his brain, piercing the fog, like a beam of light. Someone had to save his Dad, he might do something stupid, hurt himself somehow, something. Someone had to save his Dad. He could tell he was losing his grip, he was going to fall out, to lose what control he had left. He needed to…let them know…make them understand. He tried to tell the voice.

"_You have to …stop him…" _But it was too late, he'd already fallen into the fog.

"_Joey?"_ Seto put his hands on the face and tried to open the eyes but they were vanished upwards, lost in unconsciousness. Was this it? Was he dead? No still breathing but barely. He had to get Joey away, but how? He was helpless. No! He was never helpless. He had to start thinking like Kaiba, C.E.O. of KaibaCorp and not like the trembling Eighteen-year-old he was. He had to make the right decision, Joey's life depended on it. With shaking hands he took out his mobile phone, flipped it open and dialled three numbers.

"_Nine…One…Five."  
_

* * *

Mr Wheeler staggered into the apartment, leaving savage bloody handprints on the walls as he veered between them. He kicked the coffee table out of the way and dropped down onto the sofa. His nose continued to pour, but his eyes were dry with shock, his lungs tight, his stomach churning. 

He had killed his only son. The realisation hit him in waves. The one person who had loved him through everything, who had cared for him even though he was just a kid, who had put up with his feeble, pathetic nature with courage and a patience he had never seen equalled. His trembling hands fumbled for a cigarette, and he ended up scattering the packet across the floor. He leant over to pick one up and felt himself wretch. He had nothing, he had destroyed everything he had ever loved, and that had ever loved him. His hold on life had been tenuous at best and now it was all over. How could he live on, knowing what he had done? A boy, his boy, had lost his life at his hands.

He put the cigarette between his lips determinedly, and reached down onto the table to pick up the lighter. He tried to light his cigarette, his _last_ cigarette, and did succeed but trembled too much and burnt his fingers in the process. It stung, but he deserved the pain. He inhaled deeply but raggedly. The smoke was only a distraction, and it did no good anyway. He dropped the lighter and the cigarette and lurched towards his bedroom, thinking only of pills and the darkness that would consume him.

The cigarette on the sofa smouldered for a minute, before bursting into flame. Curling tongues flickered outwards from the point on the seat, fuelled by plastic fibres and alcohol. It burned brightly, licking its way over the cigarette which crumbled instantly to ash, melting a deep hole into the sofa which began to sag in on itself, lighting the fillings of the cushions. Spreading swiftly it engulfed the sofa in less than a minute, catching the curtains, and a small table with an electric lamp.

Unaware of the inferno developing on the other side of his bedroom wall, Mr Wheeler slipped out of consciousness, seeking oblivion in the painkillers and the booze that killed his son before him.

* * *

Will Joey survive? What will happen to Joey's Dad? You'll just have to wait and see. 

Not as long as the last chapter perhaps, but I hope you don't think it's too short in any way.

Thanks to those of you who have reviewed me so far, please continue to let me know what you think!

**Chapter 10 - Silence **will be up soon.

I wish I owned Kaiba, I guess the others too, but I don't so there.


	10. Silence

New chapter, I hope you enjoy.

I'd really appreciate more responses though please!

Disclaimer: All I want for Christmas is Yugioh, but I can't afford it!

* * *

**Chapter 10 - Silence**

Steely blue eyes narrowed as the man shuffled into the dock. The slouching figure slumped into the chair, rising begrudgingly when ordered to as if he could barely stand. The courtroom was filled with whispers, people talking about the man before them, so many voices, so many convinced of the man's guilt. Seto Kaiba felt his eyes staring deep into the back of Mr Wheeler's head, wishing he could see the man's thoughts, praying to see the machinations that were undoubtedly going on underneath the dirty blonde hair. He sat at the back of the court room, having slipped in late to avoid the crowds. The press had been a constant hassle in the last month. Mokuba and he had had to stop attending classes because of the number of reporters who were following them, hounding their every waking moment. Not that he regretted his actions even for a moment, but still, he wished he could be certain that what he had seen was actually what had happened.

The man stood before the Judge, his head lowered, awaiting the verdict. The judge sat above him, his face lined with disgust. His voice, when it finally came, was trembling with fury.

"_Mr Anthony Wheeler. Your impertinence and lack of co-operation throughout the course of this preliminary hearing have been unprecedented. A case where a man of such standing in the community has been found to be so brutal against his only child to such an extent has not come before this court in over a decade. In refusing to take counsel for your defence you no doubt hoped to buy yourself some time before you faced your trial. You are mistaken utterly in this case. By refusing to claim whether you are or are not guilty I can only assume you had the same intention. You will not be successful. The evidence of the esteemed Seto Kaiba, as well as the medical teams who dealt with you and your son, are more than enough to build a strong case against you. Your refusal to speak has only added the charge of perverting the cause of justice to your original crimes. The brutality of which mean that you will remain in prison pending your trial which will commence in a week. On a personal note I would like to add that, Mr Wheeler, if I were in charge of trying you, I would have no hesitation in ordering the maximum penalty to be carried out. Do you have anything to say?"_

The Judge paused, leaving Mr Wheeler a moment to speak. A moment which he did not take.

"_Of course you do not. Take him away please."_

As Mr Wheeler made his way silently out of the courtroom, Seto put his face into his hands. It had now been nearly a month since he had found Joey at the bottom of the stairs. The case had been so high profile that it had been fast-tracked through the legal system. One month? Mr Wheeler had not said a word since he was pulled from his burning apartment, and it seemed unlikely he would before or during the trial. His eyes barely seemed to register the prosecutors before him. There were reports in the press that he had made a number of further suicide attempts in his cell and was now under constant surveillance. Kaiba had specifically said during his testimony that he did not believe Joey's father was in any fit state to be brought to trial, and yet this had been ignored by the Judge who had been preoccupied with avoiding yet another epic and expensive high profile court case. It seemed that every Law expert in the country was being brought in order to rush the case through, and to hell with the consequences. Even with the corrupting power of money Kaiba could not find any means of delaying Mr Wheeler's examination. All his help, the psychoanalysts, the legal counsel he had sent had been refused. Mr Wheeler seemed determined to take the harshest penalty upon himself. Seto was beginning to feel he might be the only one of Mr Wheeler's side, and he was the one whose testimony had put Joey's father in prison in the first place!

"_This is hopeless."_ He murmured, leaving the courtroom as swiftly as possible.

Out in the corridor he was surrounded instantaneously by a throng of reporters.

"_Mr Kaiba! Is it true that you saw Anthony Wheeler throw his son down that staircase?"_

"_Kaiba! Who burnt down the apartment complex? And who is going to pay to re-home all those people?"_

"_Mr Kaiba! Is it true that you and Joey Wheeler were lovers before the accident?"_

"_Have you really hired a hit squad to execute Mr Wheeler if he is released?"_

"_Mr Kaiba! Did you push Joey Wheeler down the stairs?"_

"_ENOUGH!"_

Kaiba's eyes burned blue flame as rage emanated from his every limb. He turned to face the reporter who accused him. The man cowered under the gaze as if his very skeleton was melting within him. When Seto did speak again his voice was full of emotion.

"_What happened to Joey Wheeler was a tragedy. As a spectator, which was ALL I was, I witnessed a scene the like of which I honestly pray I will never see again. Unfortunately, until Mr Wheeler is proved guilty or innocent of this crime this will remain an incomplete tragedy, one that is burned on my memory and in the hearts of Joey's friends. All any of us wants is to be left alone."_

And with a swish of his trench coat he disappeared into his limousine.

xXx xXx xXx

Well I'm back at work, finally. I managed to cause a press distraction by alerting the authorities I would be going into School this afternoon. I guess Yugi and his little Scoobies won't exactly be pleased with being pestered, but I honestly don't care. It feels good to be behind my desk again. It's normality, and I haven't had any of that in the last few weeks. Between comforting Mokuba, being at the Court most days and everything else. Let's just say that work right now comes as a relief.

I haven't slept. All I see is him landing at my feet over and over again. I hear his voice pleading with me, his scream and the noise of his body on those godawful steps. It may have burnt down, but that apartment complex is etched on my memory for life. My hands are shaking as I type even. What happened to Joey has turned me into a wreck, both mentally and physically. I have barely been able to keep food down since I stumbled into the bushes to throw up as they carried him into the ambulance. When I saw the bone in his arm sticking out through his skin…I…It doesn't bear thinking about. I have to move on. To try and forget it, or at least live with it. I can't live on high-sugar coffees for the rest of my life.

Instead of sleeping I've been retreating every night to my other room. Alexander says that I've never shown such passion before, that my performance has been outstanding. Does it really take something like this to make me feel? Have I really become so cold? Despite my improvements Alexander still says that he thinks I need to rest. Even he managed to noticed how unhealthy I look. But all I can think when I try to nourish myself, whether with sleep or food is: How can I be healthy when Joey is…

No, it makes my stomach turn even to type it. So I'll just continue on as if I never said it.

The worst part of it all is not the screams in my head, it is not the tears running down Mokuba's face, it is not the press gangs with their flashbulbs and their noise and their invasive yet incessant questioning. No. It is none of these. The worst part of it all is the silence that fills the moments in between. The silence that penetrates everything I do, ceaselessly and relentlessly. There is no pity in the silence. There is only nothingness, an absence. An absence that fills my ears and all my senses and seems to want to drown me in its lack of being.

When will the silence end?

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Mr Wheeler leant back against the wall of his cell, and gently turned his face away from the guards he knew were watching him. Slipping his hands under his pillow he drew out the wads of fluff he had collected from the woollen blanket he slept under and inserted them into his nostrils. Removing his handkerchief from his pocket he pushed it into his mouth, pressing it deep into the back of his throat.

Sitting outside, it took over a minute for the guards to notice what was going on. Bursting in through the door they worked rapidly, resuscitating him quickly, and returning him to the bed, removing his wads and his handkerchief. He did not even glance at them, returning silently to his bed, and his solitary gaze at the white ceiling. Praying wordlessly with every fibre of his being to let the silence consume him.

* * *

A Nurse walked briskly down a stark corridor, heels clipping the linoleum as regularly as a clock. Entering a side room she approached the bed wordlessly, picking up the chart and checking for any signs of change. None of course. She sighed inwardly and shivered a little, noticing that the window was open. She went and closed it, before returning, this time to stand facing the patient. She turned his shaven head gently away from her to inspect the head wounds, cupping the purply bruised faced in her hands. The wounds were healing nicely. He had been an extremely healthy young man. She found herself still shivering and went to adjust the heating before returning to examine the other surface wounds. The leg was healing well now, and the hand was forming scabs at last which meant it would begin to recover. She pulled open an eyelid. Nothing. She ran her hands tenderly over the goose pimpled arm. Goose pimpled? 

Her eyes widened as she looked down. Visible goose pimples, hairs standing on end. That could only mean? She took a deep breath and, gazing directly at the face of the boy, gave his arm a brutal pinch.

"_Ah!"_ She gasped. There was a definite flicker of an eyelid there! She did it again, this time higher up on the arm, looking at the reading on the electro-encephalogram.

"_A peak! A Peak!"_ Nurse Olivia Newington ran out into the hallway, breaking the silence with her jubilant cry, bringing doctors and nurses running from all directions.

"_He's responding! Joey Wheeler is alive!"  
_

* * *

I really seriously considered not letting you know that he survived this chapter, but I hope you think I made the right decision! Please please review me! It means so much to me! I've worked really hard on this and all the other chapters so far, so please just let me know ok? 


	11. Hope

Ah, the fragrant joys of another new Chapter. Thank you to those who have contributed to my 19 reviews so far. I'm not one to beg or blackmail my readers into reviewing, but I'd really appreciate hearing what you have to say about my story. Do you love it, hate it? What would you want me to change?

Just click that little button to let me know.

* * *

**Chapter 11 - Hope**

Their pace was brisk down the anaemic corridor, the younger Kaiba taking two steps for every stride made by his elder brother. Mokuba felt his heart racing, and knew that he could barely comprehend what his brother must be feeling. This last month had been hell for Seto, it was written in the circles under his eyes and the fact that he had tightened his belt by three notches, but now at last there was hope.

Abruptly, Seto stopped, swivelled around on the spot and crouched down so that his brother almost ran into him. Their faces level, he placed a hand firmly on Mokuba's shoulder and looked gently up into his eyes. His voice was low, as if it pained him to speak.

"_Mokuba. I don't want you getting your hopes up only to be disappointed. There is still very little chance that Joey will ever wake up. Goose pimples don't mean much."_

Earnest grey eyes looked piercingly into dim blue. The boy put his small hands on Seto's face, tilting it up towards him.

"_If Joey can feel and react to the cold, then he can begin to feel other things as well. It means his brain is beginning to send and receive messages again. That's a reason to hope Seto, and right now hope is just what you need."_

The chocolate-haired boys face brightened a little, and taking his brother in his arms Seto rose and carried Mokuba the rest of the way to Joey's room.

Shorn, wired in and waif-like as he was, there was something more Joey about the corpse in the bed. No, not corpse, he corrected himself, Joey might well be alive now. Mokuba ran around the bed to sit on Joey's right, while Seto stepped forward towards the monitors on the left. He watched the screens, hearing someone enter behind them, these too seemed a little altered.

"_What is his condition?"_ He asked, almost achieving an air of carelessness.

Nurse Olivia Newington smiled quietly to herself. _"He is recovering, in the last six hours there has been a steady but significant increase in his level of brain activity."_

"_How do you mean?"_

With a meek step, she approached the young man, who moved slightly to allow her access to the monitors. Lifting a hand she indicated a pair of lines.

"_These lines here indicate the activity in the part of the brain that relates to sensory perception. Essentially this is his ability to feel touch. Notice that as of now there is no variation. These lines are flat, and for the last month there was nothing we could do to change that in any way. Now,"_

Before Kaiba knew what was happening, or had time to read anything into it, a hand had firmly taken his own, and was pulling him gently around to face the bed.

"_Less than an hour ago the only way we could achieve any change was by inflicting low level pain."_ Second hand gestured at a series of little red marks on Joey's right arm that appeared to have been caused by pinching. _"However now, even now he has progressed." _The hand holding his own hovered over Joey's left arm._ "Watch the monitor Mr Kaiba."_

Seto darted a quick look at Olivia's eyes, the hazel filled with nervousness but also a determination. His eyes shifted to rest on the two lines. He felt his hand land on Joey's arm, felt it begin a gentle stroking motion.

"_Oh my God."_ He murmured, as the line violently oscillated into a series of jagged peaks and troughs. He continued to stroke, backwards and forwards, up and down, watching the patterns vary, watching Joey's sensations playing out before his eyes, entranced. He suddenly became aware that Nurse Olivia had left his side and was moving towards the end of the bed. He paused and watched her pick up Joey's chart from the end of the bed.

"_Now," _she said, tucking a stray hair behind her ear and drawing a rough sketch of a line on the back of the sheet, _"This is something I literally only just spotted a few minutes before you arrived, and so you're the first to know."_ She turned the page towards him, and pointed to a third line on the screen. _"Look at this. What I have drawn is the brain pattern we would expect for normal R.E.M. sleep. Look at Joey's line."_

Kaiba's eyes gently flicked back and forth between the two lines. _"They are nothing alike."_

"_Exactly." _She paused. _"Do you remember what I said to you the last time you were here Mr Kaiba?"_

Kaiba thought back to that morning when for what must have been the eleventh time, Nurse Olivia had walked into Joey's room to find him slumped against the bed. That day Nurse Olivia had been honest with him, explaining that the lack of activity in Joey's mind suggested that there was very little chance of him ever waking up. She had told him to go home, and begin to move on with his life as best as possible, because if Joey was the man he had told her he was, that was what he would have wanted. That was a week ago now, and things were so very different now. That day Olivia had been serious and sad, now she was positively beaming with suppressed excitement.

"_Yes I remember."_

"_Do you remember what the line looked like then?"_

"_It was flat." _Seto let his eyes follow the gentle oscillation of the line, gentle and yet irregular.

"_And now it is not." _Olivia stepped forward and placed a hand on his shoulder, _"There is more activity here Mr Kaiba. More activity here than in a coma patient, or even a man who is in a deep sleep. Joey is dreaming Mr Kaiba."_

Seto felt his eyes widen, he placed a hand on Olivia's own and turned to face her, his face full of questions. He spun around and looked closely at Joey's face, noticing the eyes moving under the closed eyelids. When her next words came, they were barely audible and yet perfectly clear.

"_And if Joey can dream, Joey can wake up."_

Seto stood, trembling with emotion as he stared at the man in the bed. Yes it was a man. He felt his chest vibrate with some unknown feeling, and he had to place his hands on Joey's arm to steady himself. His eyes never leaving Joey's face, he spoke quietly but clearly.

"_Nurse Newington, Olivia. I am a powerful man. For what you have done today and everything else you have done in the last month, I thank you. Ask anything of me now and I shall do everything in my power to make it yours."_ He paused, turning slowly to look deep into the eyes, so brown and wide, of the woman who had given him hope.

Olivia was stunned. The gaze that met her own was so honest and captivated her utterly. Eventually she dragged her eyes down to the floor and blushed, escape the penetrative gaze of the young C.E.O..

"_Mr Kaiba, I have a loving husband, a good home and a wonderful job. I have everything I could wish for in life."_ The man's sigh was not lost on her as she hesitated. _"But…but my husband and I want a family more than anything, and…and we cannot afford the help we need to make that possible."_

Seto smiled a genuine smile rise within him, reaching out to this beautiful woman, both strong and infinitely fragile, who stood before him. He closed the distance between them and placed a hand on her shoulder. _"I cannot think of a better gift. A life for a life." _(Afterwards he often wondered if he meant Joey's or his own.) _"But is there nothing else, at all?"_

Olivia flushed deeply, but this time met the young man's gaze honestly. _"I would…I would love to one day be a doctor instead of just a nurse."_

The chestnut haired boy smiled warmly, _"It's already done. You old go and tell your husband the good news. He's a very lucky man."_

Eyes streaming with tears, Olivia ran out into the corridor, looking for the nearest phone. Seto watched her go, smiling gently to himself. He turned towards the bed again. After a while Mokuba spoke.

"_I wonder what he's dreaming about."_

_---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------_

I am sketching, the pencil in my hand is cool against my skin and makes a neat pale line. It is a B grade. I see my page, large enough to frame my sight. I am sketching a figure, a man in the position of 'Le Penseur'. The real thing is in Paris at Rodin's Museum, where they have the Gates of Hell and the Kiss. I always hope that one day I'll get there to sketch the real thing. I've only seen them in books. The Kiss is how love should be.

I don't know why I'm thinking like this, something feels really weird.

I hear a voice. Whoever is modelling for me is speaking, or at least to someone. I put down the pad. Ah! It's Kaiba. He's facing me and looking right at me and his lips are moving clearly but the sound is muffled and I can't make out the words. My left arm feels funny. He smiles at me and I feel something leap in my chest. Maybe I really do care about him or something. Yeah maybe that's what it is. I wonder why he's smiling.

Stepping up to him I look deep into his eyes, I can feel his breath on my face. His eyes are everlasting, unfathomably deep. Capable of such change: from dancing cerulean blue to a stormy near grey. Like the ocean. His eyes are like the ocean because the ocean is only ever one colour, it's just a colour that reflects the weather around it. Kaiba's eyes are like the ocean because they reflect his heart. I should tell him that. He has beautiful eyes.

I feel him pulling me closer, but now I spin away from him and into the Gym. I want to show him what I can do. I want to show him that I can be beautiful too.

o o o o o o o o o o o o

The shrunken man shuffled into the dock, slumping into the chair, as if he could barely stand. The courtroom was filled with whispers, people talking about the man before them, so many voices, so many convinced of the man's guilt. Soon however he was forced to stand again, as the Judge began to address him.

"_Mr Anthony Wheeler, you stand here today, accused of the Grievous Bodily Harm and Attempted Murder of your son Joseph, a young man who, although not legally dead, has been declared in a vegetative state indefinitely. Mr Wheeler-!"_

"_Stop!"_

Unanimously, every member of the courtroom turned to face the man who had spoken. Seto Kaiba walked sharply into the centre of the room, so that everyone could see him.

"_This parody of justice can no longer be permitted to continue." _He spoke clearly, making certain that his voice rang in the ears of every man and woman in the courtroom. _"Joseph's state has altered. He is rapidly regaining consciousness and will at the soonest be awake within the next two days. Your basis for this trial depended on the fact that Joey might never be able to give testimony. This is no longer the case. This trial must be adjourned until such time as he is willing and able to give such testimony."_

Chaos erupted in the courtroom. Joey Wheeler was waking up? He would be able to tell his side of the story? People scrambled towards the doors, trying to find reporters, get mobile signal, find relatives, anyone they could tell the news. The Judge roared with indignation as several members of the Jury leapt from their seats in order spread the news. Standing watching as the pandemonium unfolded around him, Seto Kaiba smirked with deep satisfaction.

* * *

Now, review me! It's only a moment of your time, a drop in the grand scheme of things. It means a great deal to me. So let me know what you love and what you hate and give me any hints for how I could improve. **Chapter 12 - Realisation **up soon. 

I'd quite lik to own Yugioh, but I'm too busy being clever. So I don't.


	12. Realization

Welcome, welcome one and all to the long-awaited next instalment of Broken Hallelujah. I'd like to apologise for taking so long, but I went home from University for Christmas, and have had virtually no access to the internet. I'll be back to business as usual by January 17th or thereabouts, but for now here's a chapter to keep you all going.

I'd like to thank all my reviewers once again. I'd type out your names, but I don't want to misspell them. What you write means a lot to me, and I hope many others follow in your footsteps. Hint hint.

By the way seeing as nobody bought me the rights to Yu-Gi-Oh for Christmas I still don't own any of it. Except the plotline of this story, and Nurse Newington, she's all mine.

* * *

**Chapter 12 - Realization**

Had he ever sat in a room like this before? So poorly lit, so tense and unsettling. The chill contracted his muscles and brought up the hairs on the back of his neck. Then again maybe that was simply a result of the company. Sat facing him was none other than the man he had accused of murder. The two pale men looked at each other, tired eyes connecting with a shared weariness.

"_Please Mr Wheeler. Don't continue to condemn yourself." _Seto said, placing his palms squarely on the table. _"Joey is on the road to recovery. He won't and would never want you to throw your life away." _Blue eyes narrowed. _"In either sense of the word."_

He paused, waiting for a response before he continued. _"Today, I was with Joey for a period of over an hour in which he was as conscious as someone who is just taking a nap. He's fighting, so hard, and he needs your help to get through this. He needs all the help he can get."_

Nothing. No response. He might as well have been talking to a mannequin, or a corpse. Minutes stretched out between them. A man who is used to getting his own way finds it hard to remain patient even when he knows he should. His powers of articulation, so famed in the business world, were somehow lost on this man. Mr Wheeler looked more exhausted than he felt, he seemed dead behind the eyes, drained of joy utterly. Eventually and with a sigh, Seto rose to leave. As he put his hand on the door handle, a voice spoke quietly behind him.

"_Mr Kaiba, I have hurt my son more deeply than you can ever know…I don't suppose you have heard that he is a gymnast. None of his friends seem to be aware of it. He's very good. Amazing in fact."_ The voice was flat, a monotone. Kaiba did not turn. _"In our apartment, before it burnt down, was a letter for me from my friend Ray, the man who coaches Joey. The letter was letting me in on a secret, that in the next few weeks, an Olympic scout would be visiting the community centre, specifically to assess Joey's capabilities. He had come that afternoon, and Joey's class had been allowed to overrun at the scout's personal request. And that was why Joey was late home." _Kaiba winced, knowing that that was not the only reason, _"He got in. He got in Mr Kaiba. He was on his way to the Olympics and he didn't even know it. Now, even if he can recover from his injuries, which were horrific at best, he has been sat in bed for the last month, with no movement, and no means of maintaining even his level of flexibility. He cannot hope to get there now. And so you see Mr Kaiba, whatever happened on that afternoon is really irrelevant. When Joey finally does wake, he will hate me."_

---------------------------------------------------------------

I am flying. My body obeys my every command, as I turn and swoop over and under the bar. He can see me, his eyes set my skin aflame, my heart pounding within me, telling me how he feels. He loves me. I can do anything. I can show him my strength, prove myself to him.

My body obeys my every command, and the feeling is electrical. Every nerve within me bristles with excitement as I extend and relax, changing grips and spinning faster than I have ever achieved before. My movements are fluid and yet rapid, like the blood rushing through my veins, my pulse racing, throbbing in my ears like a drum roll letting me know that I'm alive.

When I dismount I am panting for breath, my whole body bursting with pride and emotion. Suddenly I feel him standing behind me, so close we are almost touching. I spin to face him, looking at his expression I feel everything radiating from him, his emotion as clear as words. He raises his hand to place it to my cheek and his hand is cool against the heat of my burning face. I feel it, a new sensation, rising within me, like heat or a lamp being switched on. I feel as if I am being lit up from the inside, a deep happiness is forcing its way up into my face, I have to…

My smile spreads across my face, I'm so happy, I'm so so happy. Blue eyes filled with love and pride, blue eyes that honour me and admire me, that elevate me somehow, that make me better than I am.

"_You're beautiful."_ He says, his nose brushing gently against my own.

The tension builds as he draws even closer to me, his eyes flickering closed. Our lips meet, his soft and perfect against my wind-bitten counterparts. I feel myself melting into the kiss. I move my arm to wrap it around his body.

Wait. My arm. It hurts.

I try to move it again, my lips now frozen, my eyes flung open but I see nothing but white, the dazzling light of my pain. It's on fire, shredded with knives I…Oh God.

I try to move my fingers and I'm overcome by nausea and have to stop. I move my head and -! Ah God why does it…why is everything hurting so much?

I'm falling. Oh God I'm falling again. The stairs. My Dad. I'm falling. I fell and I'm falling. Everything hurts.

Suddenly I'm screaming, sat up, awake. I'm awake. I was dreaming. Oh thank God it's all over. I flop back onto the pillows and sigh. It was just a dream.

No. No. Slowly my eyes open involuntarily, drawn down to my left arm. I barely comprehend the mass of bandages before my eyes. My eyes shift, taking in wires for drips and monitors. I blink, and my face aches with a deep pain. The realization hits me like a truck.

"_Oh God…Oh GOD! WHAT THE FUCK HAS HAPPENED TO ME?"_

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

When Seto Kaiba woke early on Sunday morning, he felt a little bit healthier. He had gone to bed almost as soon as he had returned to the mansion in the afternoon after seeing Mr Wheeler, but not before eating a full three bowls of pasta. He felt hungry, and for once he had actually had more than a full nights sleep. Rising from his bed he noticed that the covers had barely moved, as if he had been too tired to even turn in his sleep. He smiled to himself. Sixteen hours in bed. Somehow his plan of taking a little nap had gone astray.

He moved leisurely into the bathroom and took a longer shower than usual. The heat untied knots and relaxed him in muscles that he had barely been aware existed. Towelling himself off gently he strolled back into his room in the nude. Picking the softest socks, and the nicest pants he rooted around in the drawer for…

"_Ah!" _With a happy exclamation he pulled out his favourite jumper, and slipped it lazily over his head before padding his way quietly out of his room and towards the kitchen.

As he strolled over the tiles he flicked the kettle on in passing before opening the fridge. Sandwich meats; milk; a selection of cheeses…but nothing massively appetising. Now what he really wanted, what he could really fancy were…

"_Leftovers!" _He said, pulling the bowl out of the fridge. He grabbed a fork from a drawer and ambled over to the counter, sitting himself down on a stool. As he munched slowly on the cold lasagne, he let his mind run lazily over the events of the last few weeks. Since Joey's fall, all he had done was struggle, in a way he had never had struggle before. It had felt as if every step he had taken had been through a storm, forcing him to battle for purchase on the land, to harden himself against the biting cold. With Joey hovering between life and death he had been powerless, and without any means to find closure. Mr Wheeler's silence had only made things worse; how could he have been in any way certain of what he was doing? He couldn't, and the simple fact was, uncertainty was the one thing Seto didn't know how to cope with. Now at last, something was inevitable again, Joey would recover, and the mere thought of that was enough to switch on a light inside him again. It cleared out the fog and confusion, and would perhaps even bring an end to this terrible level of attention from the press. Yes. Things could finally begin to get back to normal.

But surely…surely this feeling of…well it felt almost like something within him had reawakened, something he had thought dead. Surely this feeling couldn't just be attributed to the fact that things made sense again. He felt…positively happy, in a way he barely recognized as being his own emotion. Joey was waking up, and this was obviously the reason. Joey was the reason.

"_Hmm."_ If what he felt was really only a crush, then this level of emotion was certainly unlikely. The realization of the strength of his feelings was however, not as surprising as it might have been. And really, when he paused, as now, to think about it, he was really just too relieved to be in any way worried by it. "In fact," he thought, as a smile stole its way into his features, "I don't think anything could bring me down right now."

Before he could bring his fork back to his mouth, the peace of the kitchen was broken by a sharp ringing sound. Slipping out of his seat Seto wandered over to the nearest phone.

"_Hello?"  
_

* * *

Well well well, he just had to jinx himself there didn't he? What will Seto find when he gets to the hospital. What state of mind will Joey be in? You'll just have to wait for

**Chapter 13 - Broken **to find out.

Please review my work now you've read it. Even if it's just to let me know that you aren't enjoying it, although I hope you are.


	13. Broken

And another one...

* * *

** Chapter 13 - Broken  
**  
"_Thank you Dr Howles, I appreciate your letting me know." _Olivia hung up the phone and leant her head against the wall with a deep sigh. Somehow her plan of sleeping for more than six consecutive hours hadn't worked out the way she had intended. It was now four o'clock in the morning, on the one day she was supposed to have off this week, and now of all times was the moment Joey Wheeler had chosen to wake up. She felt into her pocket and put her pager onto beep mode from vibrate. Maybe if she just actually dared to turn the damn thing off once in a while no one would notice. But of course she never would, people's lives depended on her. 

She stood in the doorframe of their bedroom, and stared silently at the form in the bed. Her husband looked so weak right now, and what was awful was that he could only expect to get weaker from now on. As she moved to sit beside him on the bed her eyes prickled and her chest flooded with the combined pressure of pain and love. She put a hand to his cheek.

"_Paul?"_ She whispered softly, _"Paul wake up darling."_

"_Mmff." _Came the response from the figure in the bed. Paul Newington stirred a little, his face turning instinctively towards the voice. A little shake of his shoulders from Olivia was enough to rouse him. His voice was rough with sleep but the intonation was soft. _"You have to go to work."_ It was more of a statement than a question.

Hazel eyes met bleary bottle green with a resigned look. Olivia nodded, and leant in to kiss the man she loved. He smelt soft and warm, and although his lips were dry his kiss soothed her. As she rose to get dressed he sat up a little awkwardly in bed. She talked as she stepped into her uniform.

"_The latest I'll be back is midday. Have a lie-in and when I come back I'll bring some lunch with me ok?"_

Paul grunted in return and ran his hand through his hair leaving it stuck up in odd peaks of golden brown. As she turned to face him again she couldn't help noticing how young he looked, how much like a lost child he looked at times like this. She drew on all her strength to fight back the urge to break down and cry in front of him, kissed him once and left their apartment as quietly as she could.

Once in the car, Olivia clenched her hands tightly round the steering wheel and took a series of deep breaths. The nurse in her owed it to her patients to remain composed and in control of her emotions, but the woman in her just wanted to cry. Nurse Newington arrived in the staff car park of the hospital twelve minutes later and made her way to reception to sign herself in.

Five hours later it was nine o'clock in the morning and Olivia was finally giving into the pressure from her colleagues to alert Seto Kaiba to Joey's condition. The voice that answered the phone was so relaxed and cheerful that when she realised that it was the same young man who had been haunting the halls of the hospital like a ghost for the last month, she almost hung up without saying a word. The woman in her knew that the boy really needed some peace, but the nurse in her knew that he must hear the truth.

"_Mr Kaiba?"_

"_Nurse Newington?"_

"_Yes Mr Kaiba. I have some news."_

"_About Joey? Is he awake?"_ The tone in the young man's voice echoed desperately in her heart with the look on her husband's face when she had left him. There was a need, such need there, and it was her job to deny his need.

"_Yes Seto, he is awake."_

"_But?" _The tone in her voice had said it all.

"_But he…he isn't…" _She hesitated, trying to find the right words to at once illuminate the young man and conceal from him to full force of what had occurred in the corridors in the past few hours. Seto Kaiba however, did not like having things concealed from him, and didn't need to hear any more.

"_I'll be right over."_

- - - - - - - - - - -

They've sedated me. The drugs I'm on reduce all my movements to a minimum, but I can still draw. Little patterns trail over the sheets as my index finger wanders across them. The sheets aren't very soft really, they're rather rough and scratchy. The pillow too is kind of lumpy, and the whole place smells too clean. I don't like the artificial light. And I hate the window with its view of the tops of the autumnal trees. I also hate the way the floor squeaks when people walk on it, and how the doctors peer and prod and stare into your eyes as if they want me to fucking react. What I hate most is that here I am thinking about irrelevant crap because it is all I can do to stop myself from thinking about what has happened to me.

When they tell me about my injuries I sort of hear it as if I'm someone standing on the other side of the room. I only catch fragments. Fifty broken bones. Majority of the injuries on the left hand side of the body. Facial reconstruction surgery already complete and my face will look unchanged. Pins in my hand-bones to stop them from being just a bloody pulp. Scarring on my arms and legs. A month. A whole month. A month with no movement, a month lost, a month of deterioration and damage that I cannot hope to recover any time soon because I have to stay in bed and get well. A month. It's exhausting just to think about it.

My arms, the parts that aren't bandaged or punctured, are withered. I could scarcely support my weight on them. It's all gone. I just know it. In my dream I was beautiful and spun like a dandelion seed in the wind. That dream is over.

And Kaiba. God I bet he'd laugh if he saw me now. Beautiful? If I ever was…Christ I'm acting like he ever thought it in the first place. The bastard probably never looked at me in his life, and even if he did, I wouldn't want him to now. It hurts so much, and that's not just the wounds. I'm an idiot, and deluded myself with fucking dreams that just make this so much harder. I'm nothing. For a while I had something, something I could want and wish and dream and work for. Fuck it it's all gone.

Thank God I'm alone. I'm alone I'm alone and no-one is here to see me like this. No-one can see what I've become.

Everything is broken.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

As Seto walked up towards the doors of the hospital, he spotted Nurse Newington at a payphone just slightly to the left. He hovered near her and waited for her to finish her call.

"_Paul I promise I'll be home soon, but they want me to stay here to explain the situation to Mr Kaiba, and I feel we owe him that much." _Her voice was tired and laden with emotion. _"I know, I know, but I'm a nurse and that's what I have to do. We need the money. I know you understand. Yes. I love you too. I'll be home soon. Bye."_

He watched as the somehow diminished woman put the phone back on the receiver and sighed. There was more going on here than he knew, and maybe she didn't want to tell him what, but he wanted to help. This would require some thought. He stepped forward and tapped her shoulder.

"_Nurse Newington?"_

The woman who turned to face him appeared both startled and upset, but quickly replaced the look with a more professional one.

"_Ah! Mr Kaiba, I'm glad you've come."_ She obviously didn't want him to notice, and so naturally he made sure it appeared that he didn't.

"_Well of course I came as soon as I could. How is Joey?"_

They walked briskly down the corridor, faster than even Olivia was used to. Her companion's level of nervous energy surprised her. He was fighting with himself just to avoid breaking into a run. She looked up into his face as it flickered between emotions: fear, nervousness, excitement, anguish. All passing over his features in succession. He needed warning, she couldn't let him see until he knew something, but that would mean speaking, and she didn't know what to say. They were now in the corridor, she could almost see the door to Joey's room.

"_Seto stop."_ She said quietly, stopping herself, looking down at the floor.

Kaiba reacted instantly, looking down onto the bent head of the Nurse, of Olivia. He didn't speak, he waited, nerves bristling with heat, terror flooding through him at the tone of her voice.

She hesitated, looking slowly up into his eyes, her own wide and staring. _"I have to tell you…but I don't know how…"_

Any semblance of calm that he had managed to maintain dropped instantly from his face. Blind panic gripped his gut, almost making him wretch. Her face was etched with pain, a pain he couldn't define. What was she thinking? He couldn't be certain. God what was she trying to tell him? He had to get to Joey. Shoes squeaked on the linoleum and he was gone, haring down the corridor towards Joey's room. Too wrapt up to even notice the marks on the walls, and the cleaner busily at work on them. His heart seemed to race and stop in the same moment as he flung himself into the doorframe, and stood panting against it, staring at the bed.

His eyes darted over the form and up into the face, as the other set of eyes moved lazily to connect with his own, before widening.

Seto tried to force a smile, to show something. Joey's mouth too seemed to be moving, twitching into something, opening, was he going to speak?

The scream that filled the corridors, and the ears of those who walked through them, was deafening, and pierced to the heart.

* * *

Oooh err. What will happen now? What has happened? I'm not even sure myself, so you'll have to wait and see.**  
**

**Chapter** **14 **will be up soon. Suggestions for the title gratefully received.

Me no own Yugioh. Thankoo.


	14. Isolation

Hi guys, thank you for bearing with me over the holidays. I have to tell you however that although 23 of you have read Chapter 13, only 16 of you read Chapter 12, I put them up at the same time, and you're definitely missing out as 12 is my favourite Chapter so far. Go back and read it!

Formalities – Don't own Yugioh.

Informalities – Lots of big fat hugs to all my reviewers!

* * *

**Chapter 14 – Isolation**

They call it post-Traumatic stress. They keep telling me I'm not crazy, that the things I keep doing are to be expected, that when I tore the tubes and crap out of my arms this morning and tried to escape, it was really their own fault for not being there when I woke up. That when I punched that male nurse and broke his nose it was because I felt threatened, when they should have made themselves more obviously caring. That when I screamed at Kaiba until they took him away from me it was because I associate him with my accident because he was there. Bullshit.

If this was normal, I wouldn't be strapped to the bed. If this was normal I wouldn't be sedated so heavily I'm having to force myself to think. If this was normal, I wouldn't be here. If this was normal…nothing about this is normal.

Why was Kaiba here? Why did he want to see me? Why did he look like he'd been running? Why did he look so hurt when they dragged him out of the room? Why was he here? Why? God I feel sick.

I've had to watch them change the bandages on the hole in my leg. Apparently when the femur snaps, the muscles are so strong they bring the whole bone shooting out of the leg. I know a bit about anatomy from Gym, but it's never nice to see your own insides.

I have no future. No-one is here to see me, except Kaiba, and that's worse than nothing. I know he's still around here somewhere. Has he come to torment me? Why was he there when I had my accident? It must have been his voice then. Why has no-one told me about my Dad? What happened to him? Where is my sister? Why Kaiba, and not one of them? Everything I worked for is gone in one beautifully chaotic moment. I let my anger win over the rest of me. I punched my own father, and in doing so probably killed him as well as my dreams. Why do we live in hope? Here I am. Mutilated and monstrous. A shadow of what I could have been. Locked in my head with only my own thoughts for company.

Pretty sick company if you ask me.

xXx xXx xXx xXx

How could I have been so stupid? What was I expecting? To see him perfectly healed? To see him standing on his feet? To have him run into my open arms? I'm in love with a man who I've never even had a proper conversation with in real life. Night time fantasies and planned conversations mean nothing when you've never actually done any of them. All those times when I imagined his words and his motions and his hands on my skin I was really just alone. I'm always alone. Mokuba talks and I listen to his life, but it doesn't really touch my life, doesn't make it any different. I need to know that Mokuba is Ok, but if he wasn't, wouldn't I just continue as I did before? Would I really change? People in my life feel so transient, like any minute they will just leave me and it won't matter. Even Mokuba, the one person I have always had. How can I expect anything from Joey? How can I expect myself to change? I'm impervious to pain, to fear, to life. Life moves by me as I do whatever it is that I have to do. And I'm always alone.

Just for once, just for once I thought I had a choice about that.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

Seto Kaiba watched Joey on the monitor in the security suite. Beside him stood Nurse Olivia Newington, her face cold, and her eyes glassy. She felt she had let him down, that he deserved more from her, but Kaiba was man enough to see the stress she was under, and he had a plan. As she walked him to his car, he outlined it to her.

"_Nurse Newington, Olivia. I trust you, probably more than any woman I've ever met. You're intelligent, and you work hard."_

Olivia said nothing, listening only to his words and the sound of their footsteps as they walked together.

"_You know Joey's situation, and I think we've both realised that he needs proper care, and not hospital care if he is going to get better."_

If? There was something in Kaiba's whole tone that spoke to her of indifference, something flat in his voice. Like the light was extinguished. This was a side of Kaiba she had never known, but had somehow expected, probably from all the press he got.

"_He has no home, and until the end of his father's trial has no hopes of having one. He is coming to stay in my home while he recovers, and he will have everything he requires in order to do so."_

Calculating and business-like, so very formal. Where was the emotion she had seen in these last few weeks? Where was the pain he should surely feel at Joey's reaction to him.

"_It is my belief that the transition should happen as soon as possible. I will have Joey's quarters arranged by tomorrow, and all that remains…"_

He swung himself around in front of her, facing her and they stopped. He looked into her eyes, seeming to probe her mind with his penetrating stare, and then the look softened a little.

"_I need someone I can trust, to be in charge of Joey's care. To co-ordinate other nurses and arrange for doctors visits and so on. The Chief Nurse would work regular hours, and earn a very decent wage."_

Olivia's eyes widened, and then she blushed.

"_Mr Kaiba…I-!"_

"_No buts Olivia, I want you working for me. If you have any trouble leaving your job, believe me I can get rid of that. I need you."_

And that was it, those last three words were all she needed to hear. She looked up into his eyes and smiled, a warm and full smile that was quietly reciprocated by its receiver.

As she watched Kaiba drive away, she found herself moving slowly backwards towards the pay phone. This was something that Paul needed to hear.

When Mr Wheeler was informed that his son had awakened, he didn't seem to react visibly. He was returned to his cell at 9 in the evening and promptly went to bed. Drawing the razor blade he had concealed in a chink in the wall, he observed it. There was a small nick in the blade, approximately two millimetres from one end. The whole thing shone with a dull sort of gleam, that less than an hour ago, would have seemed very inviting. He pressed it against the skin of one of his fingertips, testing its sharpness. The resulting slash was enough to make him wince. It would do its job when then time came. But the time was not now. No. The time for that had not come now. Now he was not alone. Now that Joey was alive.

The blade went back into the wall unnoticed by the guards. The scratch in his finger would be questioned of course, but he had no intention of answering. He was not alone. He was not alone.

In a small apartment, not far from where Joey's had once been, Olivia Newington embraced her husband in tears of happiness and relief. The Nurse in her told her that she was taking an easy option, that she was abandoning people who needed her, but the woman in her was happy, because there were still two people at least who she could help. Olivia kissed Paul deeply, and led him into the bedroom by the hand. She was happy, because now he wouldn't have to be alone, she could make the most of what little time they had left

* * *

Hmm…the plot certainly thickens. How and when will Joey recover? If he even does!

Stay glued to find out.


	15. Equilibrium

Ok, consider this a flurry, and definitely abnormal, but now I've started this again I can't stop! Eeep!

* * *

**Chapter 15 – Equilibrium**

They are moving me to the Kaiba mansion. They keep saying things about the press hounding the hospital and how Kaiba is willing to support me through my treatment. I don't understand why really. After all, I mean, he hates me. I hate him, but then again I sort of…

Someone has given me a sheet of paper, and a pencil. I am drawing a pommel horse. A man is jumping over it. Maybe it's me, I don't know. A Pommel horse looks kind of like a sausage with legs and handles. Why anyone would need a sausage with legs and handles is beyond me, but there it is, on my piece of paper.

Medication is a wonderful thing.

o o o o o o o o o o o o

Nurse Newington ran her hands through her hair, her face full of consternation. Three days had passed since Kaiba had made her leave the hospital, and finally everything was ready for Joey Wheeler to move in. One look at the boy had been enough to tell her. Drugged up to the eyeballs. God only knew what they'd been pumping into him all this time. His face was puffy and his eyes glassy with delirious happiness. A combination of anti-depressants and steroids by the look of it. Fantastic. Bloody fantastic. Not to mention the morphine. As far as she was concerned he was going cold turkey. Joey Wheeler was a strong young man, and was perfectly capable of tackling this without the help of chemicals. She knew it, and would see to it that he had the best care available, with Mr Kaiba's help.

She was worrying about the C.E.O., they'd barely spoken in days, even at such a crucial time. He seemed to have thrown himself back into work with little thought to his health or happiness.

She tucked Joey into his new bed. This one actually looked like a bed instead of a trolley, which was definitely in its favour. The room was modestly but tastefully furnished, and the light that streamed in through the window filled the room with a glowing warmth that would do her patient all the good in the world.

The hospital hadn't reacted well to Kaiba's proposal. They were gaining a new wing, and were infinitely grateful to him for it, but Olivia, well…Olivia herself had been a different matter. She hadn't been permitted to see him since she had handed in her resignation, and they seemed to have deliberately gone against all her suggestions for Joey's well-being during that period.

She ran her hand once over Joey's closely cropped skull before leaving him to sleep off his medicated state. She would be alerted now the moment he woke up, but she didn't think he would. The warmth and comfort would do him good.

She walked slowly along the corridors, making sure to take in her surroundings. Even for such a large house, the place smelt of Kaiba. It was a soft smell, a masculine smell, one that lingered in the nostrils and spoke of cleanliness and of paper. The carpets were soft underfoot, the colours were muted, and yet holding a depth that allowed the place to remain inviting.

The top corridor in the west wing was Seto's domain. When he was at home, and Mokuba was in bed or not there then he could generally be found here. There were five doors in this corridor: the bedroom behind the first door on the right; the bathroom, the second door on the right; the study behind the first door on the left; the second left hand door was to a large space which housed Seto's private laboratory and the third…the third…To be honest, Olivia couldn't remember what he said lay behind the third.

Anyway that wasn't the point, she was up here to find Seto. First and best bet was the Study. She knocked, waited and eventually opened the door to peek in. No sign. Secondly, the laboratory. No luck there. Bedroom. Nope. Bathroom. No response there. The fifth room loomed. The third room on the left. She stepped up to the door. It appeared to be thicker than the others. Soundproofing? She knocked. No response. She knocked again and still nothing. Then she noticed a button by the side of the door, which she promptly pressed. Seconds passed, and then the door suddenly opened.

"_Olivia?"_ The boy's face was flushed, crammed into the tiny gap he had made, filling the space so that she could see nothing behind him. He was nervous looking. Had he been sweating?

"_Mr Kaiba I wanted to…have a word with you…" _Olivia paused, trying to lean around Kaiba, to see into the room. No luck. She gave up. _"About Joey."_ She finished lamely.

Seto's eyes widened with relief. _"Oh yes! Of course of course! Joey! Yes."_

Suddenly from the room Seto was hiding came a noise, a voice. Muffled undoubtedly but a voice nonetheless.

"_Is someone in there with you?"_ She asked, her curiosity somehow winning over her professionalism.

Like a rabbit in headlights the eyes widened again. _"No! I mean…"_ Seto slipped from the door and quickly shut it behind him, trying to calm himself. _"Video conferencing. I was having a meeting."_ He herded Olivia away towards his study.

"_Shouldn't you tell them you're going?" _Olivia asked, glancing back over her shoulder at the door as Kaiba practically pushed her into his study.

"_No. No. Never liked them anyway, they'll understand, they can…No."_

Olivia found herself sat in a chair opposite Seto's desk, with Kaiba himself sitting hurriedly down behind it. Clawing at his hair and attempting to look calmer at the same time, he took a moment before he began.

"_Right…Yes. How may I help you?"_

Olivia had to work hard to stop herself from snorting. His lack of control was frankly hysterical, he still didn't look even remotely like his usually composed self. However, she was working.

"_Well, Joey is asleep for now, and we need to consider our plan of action. He definitely needs emotional assistance, and we need to know exactly what is going on with his family before he starts asking questions."_

"_Yes…"_ Kaiba paused, frowning. _"About that. I've tried contacting his mother. Repeatedly. All she'll say is that Serenity has exams and that she can't deal with the stress of a sick brother right now. I mean, there's no doubt that she must know. It's world-wide news after all, thanks to me. His father I'm powerless to help. I can't be sure if he's innocent although I'm beginning to believe he might be. We have to wait for Joey before we can do anything there. His friends are being evasive. They've been hounded so much when all they really want is normality. I know they want to see him. It's just the problem of getting them here."_

Olivia nodded. _"Yes. I understand. In the meantime I'm capable of counselling him, and as his chief carer am probably the best person to do so. I'm pretty sure that he'll be asleep until tomorrow morning now, and if you don't mind I think I'll go home early." _She smiled a little at the thought. Home early, it had to be at least five years since she'd last managed that.

Kaiba reciprocated the smile and nodded, but stopped her as she tried to leave._ "Olivia. One more thing. Tomorrow afternoon, at 4.30, another early afternoon, my limo will be collecting you from here and taking you to a clinic on the nicer side of town. Your husband will meet you there. You have an appointment with a specialist in Fertility treatments. I've heard his track record is exceptional."_

She looked at him, his head bent over some sheet. When had he put his glasses on? He spoke offhand, as if it had only just occurred to him. She moved around the desk towards him, and put a hand on his shoulder. He looked up into her eyes.

"_Thank you Seto."_ And just as swiftly she was leaving again, halfway towards the door before the voice spoke again.

"_Oh, and one other thing."_ She turned to face him. _"You will be put on an accelerated medical course starting as soon as possible. I will pay for your tuition, which will run alongside your work with Joey and will be tailored to your needs. As and when your…visits to the clinic mean you are unable to continue your course it will be suspended until such time as you are ready to recommence it. Congratulations Nurse Newington. You are now a student again."_

Olivia put a hand over her mouth, closed her eyes, and tried to take in the sheer level of opportunity she was being offered. She needed to respond, and in the end the best she could come up with was a very quiet: _"I won't let you down Seto."_ Before running out of the room as quickly as she could.

Sobbing aloud in the corridor, leaning against the wall for support, Olivia gave in to the feelings that had been threatening to overcome her for longer than she cared to remember. Everything that was fixable had been fixed. Things could not, within the realms of possibility, get any better than they were in this moment, and yet she was grieving. Grieving for what was yet to come. Grieving for him and for all he meant to her. Grieving that he might never see what would come of this day. Just grieving.

xXx xXx xXx xXx

Moonlight flooded the room, at once widening the space and creating a feeling of intimacy that pervaded my senses. The smell of him. I've never been close enough until now, and the hospital simply smelt as all hospitals do. He smells of summer, the heady scent of pollen and cut grass, and yet somehow cleaner, milder. It is intoxicating.

I sat on the edge of the bed, near him, and yet facing away from the window, tracing the outline of the shadow I cast with my eyes. I'd been checking on him every hour despite the cameras. I find it difficult to believe he's here.

After a while I decided to speak.

"_I don't know what you think of me. I don't know why you screamed. I can guess but I'll never know. I'm not here to mock you, or hurt you. You're here because I need to watch you get better, to do whatever it is that I can to make that difference to you. Partly because I was there, and partly for other reasons. Please try to look on me as a friend. Right now I'm the only one with the power to help you, your medical bills alone would be enough to bankrupt all of your friends at least four times over. I ask nothing of you except that you recover. I ask for nothing more than your health, and that you may learn to stop considering me your enemy."_

When I turned to face him, I was surprised to find my eyes were watering in the light. I couldn't see his face clearly enough to know if he was awake, and I don't really care. It needed to be said.

"_We were always on the same side Joey, when it really counted, when it came down to it. We wanted the same things. Don't forget that. I may not be fantastic with people, but I do know when things count. Please get better Joey, for me as well as yourself."_

I've said my piece, I've restored the balance. Now all that I can do is wait.

* * *

Hmm…A happy or sad Chapter? Opinions please! I know moving Joey in with Kaiba is a cliché, but it really is the only available choice in the circumstances, and I hope I've made that clear. I really hope these last few chapters have worked for you. Please let me know. 


	16. Pencils

Right, my writing is important to me, and I like posting, but it has now been two chapters since I last received a review. I'd really appreciate some sort of response for the work I'm putting in here or it just seems a little pointless. Please let me know what you think, it doesn't take that long, and good or bad, I appreciate all comments. **  
**

* * *

**Chapter 16 – Pencils**

It's morning, and finally I have a proper sketchpad under my fingertips. I'm very confused. My grip on the pencil is tight, and the lines I draw are harsh and cruel. The picture I'm drawing is of how he looked last night, although I only dimly recollect. If he'd seen any of my other pictures, if the fire hadn't burnt away everything I ever owned, he'd understand why I reacted the way I did. He was the last person I wanted to see me like this. He who appears so perfect, to look at me, broken as I am.

But then again last night, his eyes shone with tears. He was almost vulnerable. And despite my lines the picture still has a softness around the eyes. I don't understand why. Olivia may tell me when she comes in after her lunch.

It was she who came in this morning, and told me about Serenity and the guys. She says they're working hard to get them in here. I'm not too worried. I'd rather not hear them talking about how sorry they are and all that sort of stuff. I don't want pity. I'll call Mum in a day or so, and let them know how I'm doing. I spoke to Yugi on the phone this morning. He must have been on a payphone, seeing as it's a school day.

All this publicity, all this mayhem, all surrounding me. But is it because of me or because of him? I guess him. Olivia says that although I may not want to think about it I have to consider preparing myself for my testimony about what happened on that day. She says it's important, but for now I'm just sketching.

I don't want to think.

o o o o o o o o o o o o

"_Honest opinion?"_

"_Well at least for now he's in denial."_

They sat once again in Kaiba's study, eating sandwiches and slurping at sodas Olivia had brought in her bag. Olivia felt her brows knitting as she thought over her conversation with Joey.

"_After his initial reaction it appeared to me that we'd need to do a lot of work to draw him out of his depression, once it had really hit him. But he was just so flippant. His father is in prison, accused of his attempted murder. His mother is deliberately avoiding any contact with him in his hour of need. His friends are virtually housebound because of the press attention. And yet he accepted it all as coolly as if it were nothing to do with him."_

Seto leant back in his chair and tilted his head on one side as he munched.

"_Surely that's a good thing, a sign he's coping?"_

Olivia immediately shook her head. _"No, no the very opposite. He's gone through a terrible ordeal, is still going through it. He's burying his emotions. Emotions that have to be dealt with. In fact, it will make my job a lot harder if this is how he continues."_

"_I see."_ Seto closed his eyes briefly as he resettled his glasses onto the bridge of his nose. _"What can we do?"_

Olivia sighed. _"I don't know how much we can. He's stubborn, and any attempt to draw him out will only make him bury the pain deeper. He needs a catalyst, but working out what that might be is a different matter entirely."_

Moving forward to lean his elbows on the desk, Seto casually twirled a pencil between his fingers, pondering. A minute passed this way, as Olivia finished her sandwich. When she was done, she looked more closely at him, her eyes taking on an enquiring look.

"_And how are you? How are you coping?"_

Again that look, with the head on one side, as if he was evaluating her motives, and her question thoroughly. _"How do you mean?"_ Was the muted response as still the pencil rolled back and forth between his elegant fingers.

Ah, evasiveness again. Not that he was going to be allowed to get away with it. _"With Joey."_ She said plainly. _"You can't come back here and pretend the last month never happened you know. Joey's reaction to you was unexpected, but you can't suddenly change your whole attitude to him like that."_

A faint smirk crept over Seto's lips as he looked up into Olivia's hazel brown eyes. When he spoke next it was in his most seductive, most persuasive voice. _"But my dear Olivia, who says I have altered anything in my attitude towards him?"_

Unintimidated, and rather surprised at the attempted use of distraction, Olivia looked him straight in the eye. _"You can't suddenly go from being entirely concerned to Joey's welfare, emotionally wrapped up in the process of recovery as you undoubtedly were, to acting as if you feel nothing now. I know how you feel about him Seto. It's been in your eyes this last month as clear as day."_

"_Ah." _Seto paused, seeming beaten, but then…_ "Then you too Olivia believe that Joey and I were in some sort of relationship before all this happened?"_

The moment the words hit her it began to make sense. Her eyes widened a little.

Kaiba shook his head. _"You'd be very much mistaken Olivia. In fact, to all intents and purposes we hate each other. At least, he most certainly hates me."_ He looked over at her again, still that questioning look. _"We've always been rivals. My feelings towards him only changed rather recently as a matter of fact. His friends, despite all appearances of warmth towards me can't really forgive me for the things I have been forced to do to them. I have hurt them in the past, but they don't believe I can have changed. It's another reason for them not to be able to come here."_

Olivia nodded, and began to rise from her seat. As she walked towards the door she turned to him and said. _"I think you are a lot more confused than you are letting on Seto. You appear calm on the outside, but your thoughts are jumbled. You are afraid of rejection, not just from Joey, but from his friends. Think these things over some more, we'll talk tomorrow."_

xXx xXx xXx xXx xXx xXx xXx

Confused? Yes, I suppose that is the word for it. When I ran in to Joey's room, it had never occurred to me that he wouldn't want to see me, as ridiculous as that sounds. I don't even mean it in an egotistical way, it had simply never crossed my mind that he didn't feel the same way. In a sense while he remained unconscious, he was whatever and whoever I wanted him to be. But I cannot deny that I was in…that I felt about him the way I do now even before his accident. If anything it was on that day that I really realised. When I was running I was trying to clear myself, clear my head of all the feelings that had overwhelmed me while he was in the car. It's sick to think of it now, but the sight of him in the car was so powerfully arousing. How did I not see his fear? At the time I felt like my senses had been invaded, the smell of sweat and the sight of him. It was erotic in a way I don't think I had ever encountered previously.

The slight stumbling block is of course his hatred for me. My feelings would perhaps be more comprehensible if there was any hope of them being reciprocated. As a rational man I can however put my feelings aside. Joey is in my house not because I want him near me but because there is no where else for him to go. I can control my emotions, strong as they are. Feelings are unnecessary anyway. I have no need of emotions. Their only use is in the manipulation of others, and the only way to avoid being manipulated is to remove emotion from your life. That's how it is. Why do I feel the need to explain myself anyway? There is no need for self-justification here. I am in the right. Why justify myself to a computer?

This is pointless.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

It had been several days since their appointment at the Clinic, and Olivia was now expecting a letter any day telling her when and where to go for treatment. Unable to contain her excitement, she mounted the steps two at a time as she returned to their apartment. Fumbling with her keys in the lock, it took her a few moments to open the door.

"_Paul?" _She called, dropping her keys in a pot by the door and slipping off her coat. _"I'm home."_

But no response came. The only noise was a tiny clattering sound. Slightly more wary, Olivia walked slowly into the living room. She breathed a sigh of relief as she saw, sat at the desk, facing away from her, the narrow shoulders and slim frame of her husband. He still didn't respond, however, and there was that sound again. She stepped forward, around the sofa, and stood looking over his right shoulder.

"_Paul?"_

On the desk was a pad of paper, blank, and next to it lay a pencil. In a semi-mechanical motion Paul's right hand stretched towards the pencil, and he placed his fingers around it in a pinch. Attempting to lift the pencil from the table, he fumbled his grip and the pencil skipped out of his hand, clattering back down onto the wooden desk. Taking the pencil in his left hand, he placed it in his right, and attempted to arrange his fingers around it in a normal writing grip. The fingers did not seem to work of their own accord, and Paul had to use his left hand to put them in place. This done, the pencil was brought to the paper, and pressed against it. Immediately, as if no pressure was exerted on the pencil at all it simply popped out of his grip. Skittering across the table it was caught and replaced by the left hand, only to return to the table a few moments later. Olivia suddenly noticed them, hundreds of little marks all over the page where he had been attempting to write. She swivelled round and crouched down beside him, looking up into his face.

"_How long have you been here like this?"_

The face was immobile and the voice was quiet.

" _Two hours ago I sat down here to write you a note so that I could go and have a nap."_

Olivia felt her heart plummet into her stomach. She held up her hand, flattened in front of him. Placing thumb and forefinger on either side of her palm he attempted to squeeze them together. Olivia felt nothing, not the slightest change in pressure.

"_It's gone."_ He said quietly. All Olivia could do was nod.

* * *

Well? Please let me know what you think guys, it matters to me. Just click that button! It's so little and cute!

Oh, and by the way, I don't own Yugioh.


	17. Motivation

I'd like to apologise to anyone who thought I was threatening to stop writing if I didn't get reviews. I'd never stop. I enjoy writing.

I don't own Yugioh, because I don't have any money.

Thanks to Growing Pain, MissDbzMedabots (sp?), KeiEn, silversnow10, Mrs. Tea Wheeler, Muchacha, Crystal-Nimrodel, SapphireMoi (can't even try to spell that hun.), pennypigeon, Zaya and girlo.

Enjoy...

* * *

**Chapter 17 – Motivation**

I have always preferred to sketch people. I like the lines and symmetry of noses and eyes. Olivia is perched on a chair by my bedside, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. A strand of her hair has slipped out and hangs before her face. Very attractive. She wears a dark but muted grey suit, quite a change from the nurse's uniform. It suits her in fact. I like her.

As usual she is talking and I am ignoring a great deal of it. She wants to know how I'm feeling and if I want to see my friends and when I want to speak about what happened and when I want to get out of bed and why I reacted to Kaiba the way I did and why I haven't tried to contact my mother and if I'm really listening at all.

I have now been here for…10 days. 10 days in this room. I'm thinking of asking Olivia to put some of my pictures up around the room for me to look at, but that would involve actually starting some sort of conversation with her. I've decided I'm not talking today.

I can't decide which is the worst evil: Olivia with her questions, Kaiba with his constant desire to glare at me, or Mokuba with his never ceasing need to make me smile. Don't get me wrong, I'm not ungrateful. I just wish they'd quit bugging me so often, and with Kaiba in particular I'm just confused. But there's no point in thinking about it. No point in worrying myself. Just like there's no point in answering her questions. No point in responding to Mokuba's smiles. No point in trying to get Kaiba to talk to me. No point in getting out of bed.

There's just no point.

**o o o o o o o o o o o**

Olivia put her head in her hands. She felt like an ant climbing a mountain. Like she was making no progress. Joey's lack of responsiveness to…well…just about anything she asked him showed that he was slipping more deeply into denial and she just wasn't certain enough to take any risk with his mental stability. Then again, lack of responsiveness to questioning was something that applied to both of them.

As she pondered over this, the second object of her thought strolled into the room. Lunch in the study had become a regular thing. It was now mid-July, a month and a half since Joey's accident in May. Joey's wounds were almost healed, and they had even planned to remove his casts this afternoon. The simple fact was that the only thing preventing Joey from getting better now was…well Joey.

Things were much less structured with Seto, veering between a business conference and counselling to simple chatting. Olivia was careful to remain guarded though. There was no doubt that she trusted Seto implicitly, it was Seto Kaiba that she wasn't so sure of. Seto was the young man she had comforted during Joey's coma, the vulnerable and innocent young man who loved his younger brother and Joey deeply and who needed her support. Seto Kaiba on the other hand was the businessman, the hardnosed C.E.O. who knew the power of information.

She sighed again. When she thought about it, the only person who was exactly as they appeared in this place, who had nothing to hide, was Mokuba. Mokuba adored her, and now she had almost come to expect the hug she received every morning before he left and in the afternoon when he returned from school. She'd always loved kids, and this afternoon, this very afternoon…

"_Are you alright?"_

The voice interrupted her thoughts. She straightened up and looked into the azure pools, framed with concern. She smiled.

"_Yes I'm fine. I'm just considering Master Wheeler's condition."_

Again the look of concern, but it was quickly masked. _"How do you mean?"_

Olivia sighed. _"Well, he hasn't shown any sign of wanting to work towards his recovery. He has shown complete apathy, and I believe it's tied to his denial. Once we tap into Joey's real emotion, we can begin to help him rebuild."_

Seto nodded. _"I see, and you're still not sure how to tap into that?"_

A shrug. _"It's so dangerous, to walk into his mind with a sledgehammer in order to make him feel? I can't run that risk…" _A pause, Seto's eyes were still on her, wanting more. "…_I have one theory. His sketches. He's an excellent artist. Maybe they can be the key to it. He needs some form of motivation, someone to get a rise out of him, as crudely put as that is. So that he can begin to express himself."_

Seto pressed his palms together in front of his nose. _"Yes I think you might be right." _Conversation halted as lunch began to be eaten, but Seto was the first to speak again. _"Are you nervous about this afternoon?"_

Olivia took a second to compose her answer. _"At first I thought I was. To actually make that commitment, to take that risk. There's so much emotion involved, you know? But in the end when I considered it further, I think not. I'm excited, but there is nothing I want more in my life than this, nothing I'm readier for."_

"_You really love your husband don't you?"_

And there were the feelings, those rushes and pulls and pains and soarings. Agony and pleasure can never be more truly combined than in love. She forced a smile. _"Yes I do. There's nothing quite like it. Really."_

As they parted ways at the end of their lunch, Olivia couldn't help noticing that he went into the third room on the left. Curiosity drove into the pit of her stomach and for a moment, for just one moment she had decided to find out what was behind the door. But no. She wouldn't, and probably never would. If he felt able to tell her, then that was what she would look forward to.

On the other side of the door, Seto Kaiba strolled across the room towards the screen. Tapping a few buttons he began a call. After about half a minute it was answered.

"_Ah Seto! Good to get your call, it's been a few days."_

"_Good evening Alexander, how is London?" _Turning his back to the screen he walked over the table which lined the longest wall.

"_As ever, rather too manic to be quite sane. How are you?"_

"_Well…"_ Seto set himself up, running his hands over the polished rosewood, taking in the smells and moods unique to this room. _"As a matter of fact I have a rather interesting scheme ahead of me."_ An intrigued noise came from Alexander. _"Joey Wheeler needs someone to get a rise from him." _He spun around to face the screen, eyes glinting with a mixture of mischief and satisfaction. _"And I think even he would agree that there's no one better qualified to do that than myself."_

In a small, but high-class medical suite on the upper end of town, Olivia sat on the edge of a bench in a surgical gown. The doctor who was testing her overall condition was younger than herself, always unnerving at the best of times. He seemed a little too methodical somehow. Routine questions, asked not to make her at ease but because it was assumed that this was the effect they would have. Paul had asked to come in with her, but the neon light had almost immediately brought on a headache, and he had had to leave before…well…this was not the time she wanted to consider it.

"_And so Mrs Newington, what has made you particularly decide to have a family now?"_

Did this man, this man who was little older than Kaiba or Joey, really want to know? Why not, she thought, bringing her eyes up to his face, maybe it would do his bedside manner some good.

"_You saw my husband, Paul?"_

"_Mhmm."_ She now lay back on the bench as directed, and began. One of the wonderful things about being a member of the medical profession is knowing that there is no one as fully disconnected from your life, no one who you can trust better than a doctor.

"_Well Doctor…Allen, at some point, at any point in the next, well no more than two years, my husband is going to drop dead."_

That got his attention. She smiled inwardly and continued telling, leaving the Doctor to continue his work.

"_Paul has a brain tumour. It's located somewhere between the cerebellum and the occipital lobe. It's positioning and the way it spread before it was detected mean that the only means of extraction would involve cutting away large portions of the brain. It's impossible. Chemotherapy can only suppress it for so long, and he has no wish to be a vegetable. He really has no choice. He is living, as they say, on borrowed time."_

Doctor Allen was suitably silenced. Olivia let the silence reign, let her mind wander over possibilities when the present was not quite as perfect as it might be.

Seto Kaiba on the other hand was not one for silences. Quite the opposite in fact. As Joey was eating his supper, the blue-eyed C.E.O. strode in.

"_You know what mutt. I have had quite enough of your sitting around."_

Joey's fork was frozen in mid-air. Seto could see that they'd removed the casts on his arm and leg. The man in the bed made no sound, he didn't even look up.

"_Look at me." _Kaiba's voice was quiet but stern.

The amber eyes were glassy, hidden beneath the golden mane. He still made no movement.

"_I said LOOK AT ME!" _With one swift movement the plate and tray were picked up and hurled at the wall. Left with nothing but a fork, Joey's frame was frozen in terror. He turned slowly, and let his eyes meet Kaiba's.

For a moment Seto's will to take this through to its conclusion almost failed. Joey's face was simply terrified, he looked weak in a way Kaiba could never have imagined. He reminded himself that this was necessary and strode over to the desk on the opposite side of the room.

"_All you do here is sit and draw." _He snapped venomously. Taking the pad in his hands and beginning to flick through. The first one was of the room, and he snorted in disgust. The second of Mokuba, and something wrenched in his gut but he continued. Olivia; the window; Mokuba again; a tray of food; himself. He winced at the sight of his own face, an imagined version of himself, smiling and laughing. He turned the page, still careful to do it loudly and violently, knowing that Joey was staring. But more pictures of himself appeared, pictures of him and Mokuba, him at school, him scowling. His own emotions battled for dominance now: wanting to look; to study; to search for Joey's emotion; to know what they meant, but he couldn't let his guard drop. He had a purpose.

"_All this time and this is all you have to show for it."_ He strode forwards, bringing the sketchpad with him, coming close to the end of the bed. He smirked, casting the pad roughly into Joey's lap. Hands slowly moved out to grasp it, pulling it close to his chest as if to protect it, or to protect himself.

Stalking slowly round the bed he came and leant in on Joey, invading his face, eyes full of hatred, staring into the blank, unfocused amber eyes. Speaking quietly, enunciating every word with malice.

"_You're pathetic. Look at you with your little pictures. It's childish, you're like a child. These pictures are all you have and yet still you cling on to them." _Their faces were closer than they had ever been before as Kaiba leaned in, menacingly. _"They're worthless. Like someone else I know. Mutt."_

A single drop fell onto the page of the sketchpad. It was like a kick in the chest, robbing Seto of his breath. This wasn't working. He expected anger not pain, he didn't think he could stand to do this any longer. Rising from his position by the bed Seto walked towards the door. One last try.

"_No wonder your Dad beat the shit out of you."_

"_Stop."_ Quietly said but still audible, Kaiba paused and turned to look over his shoulder back at the bed.

"_What was that mutt?"_

"_Don't talk about my father that way." _Joey spoke quietly, still facing forwards, still unable to look into the face of his tormentor.

Kaiba swung around to face him and took a step nearer the bed.

"_Don't talk about your father? The shit-hole who beat you every day of your life and nearly killed you? God mutt you must be weak, can't even hate him for what he's done to you."_

"_I said STOP IT!" _The voice went from virtually silent to bellowing in a moment as Joey threw himself out of bed. Uneasy on his feet, Joey took a step towards him. Seto wanted nothing more than to hold out his arms to him, but now was the moment for the kill.

"_Look at you, look at what he's reduced you to, and you defend him? You're pathetic."_

Before Kaiba knew it he had been knocked to the floor. Handfuls of jacket were in the fists the man who half attacked and half fell onto him. Kaiba's eyes widened at the rage in Joey's eyes. They burned and twisted with hate, stared wildly into his own, the face contorted with rage. The words were harsh, venomous and although whispered, perfectly understandable.

"_Don't you ever talk about him that way. You know nothing. You're a sick fuck Kaiba and you'll never be the man he is. He hurt me? You can't understand what love is if you think that. He's never hurt me in my life. I hit him. Me. It was me. I hit him, and he tried to get away from me, and I tripped in following him and that's how I fell. I fucking destroyed myself. I ruined my own life because I couldn't control my anger and now I'm supposed to sit here and listen to you call me pathetic. Well fuck that Kaiba, and fuck you."_

The grip dropped, and Joey lunged off towards the door. Kaiba jumped up and began to follow. Joey reached the frame of the door and paused. For a second Kaiba didn't understand what was happening until he realised that Joey was falling. Reacting quickly, he caught Joey in his arms and carried him over to the bed.

He took a few moments to come round, eyes widened and narrowed again in an instant.

"_Get the fuck off me." _Joey wrestled to break free, to get out of Kaiba's grip, he lay across the C.E.O.'s lap, but Seto held on tight. Joey roared. _"Let me go!" _Seto said nothing. Still furious Joey struggled more. _"LET ME GO!"_ Weak as he was, he fought like a wildcat, but Seto held on, only bringing him closer, allowing him less space to move. Their eyes met.

"_No Joey."_ When Joey stopped struggling he found himself looking up into a face so full of fear and concern that he could have no doubt. He felt his defence begin to crumble, felt the pain come back.

"_Kaiba…I…"_ But before he could say another word, the tears began to flow. With the first drop spilt on his cheek came the pain. His eyes scalded, and in his chest an anguish rose like a howl, tightening every muscle. _"Oh God."_ He sobbed convulsively, burying his face in Kaiba's chest. _"Oh God Kaiba, I've lost everything."_

Seto cradled the blonde haired man in his arms as he wept. Sometimes his own tears fell too, only to be lost in the close cropped golde hair. In learning how to comfort him, Seto first discovered the touch of Joey's skin, and hair, and the warmth of him. He ran his hands over hair and shoulders and even Joey's face, holding him close. Closer than he could ever remember being to someone else in his life.

Joey cried himself to sleep in Kaiba's arms. A man he had never been close to except to fight with. A man his friends had never trusted. A man who was here, right now, and who cared enough to stay with him. That was all that mattered.

* * *

'Nuff said really. Please let me know what you think. 


	18. Illumination

Thank you to all of my readers and reviewers. Join the ranks of the exclusive Review club by clicking on the little button at the bottom of the page!

I don't own Yugioh, quite obviously

* * *

**Chapter 18 – Illumination**

The next morning shone brightly into Joey's room. The curtains had never been drawn and as the sun rose the light opened Seto's eyes. Eyelids rose at first slowly, but then flickered a little, eyelashes darkly fluttering over intense azure. Pupils dilated against the streaming light. Seto felt warm, too warm to really move. Somewhat fuzzily he remembered that his bedroom didn't receive the morning sun. Somewhat less fuzzily he realised that he was sitting up. Rather clearly he realised he was being lain upon.

Seto was sat up against the wall, still fully dressed, and becoming somewhat sore in places such as his neck and lower back. Curled into his chest and lap was Joey, arms wrapped around his waist. All Seto saw was the shorn golden head, and the shoulders and form of the man he had comforted. His brows knitted, and he leant his head back against the wall with a sigh that spoke of confusion mixed with contentment. The last thing he wanted to do was disturb Joey, but the fact was he really was becoming incredibly uncomfortable. And the question that perplexed him most was what Joey wanted from him now. They had slept in each others arms, something Seto himself could never have imagined, but was this because Joey wanted to, or simply just because that was the way it had happened? Were they still rivals? What did this mean? It was all so uncertain and as the minutes dragged on he became even more uncertain, and it made his discomfort worse. The fact was, if Joey didn't wake soon, he was going to have to get up and move.

Joey did not wake. He slept on, sometimes nuzzling himself further into Seto's chest. The crunch point came. Seto was going to have to move or he just might die. He needed to shower, because he probably stank from sleeping in his clothes. He needed to move, or he would actually start to spasm or something. And above all he had to take off the trench coat, because one of its zips was rather excruciatingly digging into his groin. Carefully, he slipped himself out of Joey's grip, dropped the trench coat onto the floor with a sigh of relief, and looked at the scene on the bed.

Joey stirred a little, rolling onto his stomach, face towards Seto, The duvet had never covered them, and Seto could now see the white shorts and t-shirt that set off the colour of the man's skin perfectly. Joey's left arm was covered in a moistening bandage to help the skin heal after being in the cast for so long. Seto could see the deterioration, the muscles he had observed nearly two months ago were less defined from weeks immobile, but the shapeliness was still there. Once again he was denied any view of Joey's chest, the one time the man was wearing a shirt tight enough to show it, and when Seto had time to observe. The face he had seen so full of rage and pain the night before was softened into peacefulness by sleep, and Seto took a step forward, wanting nothing more than to touch the golden hair that cascaded over his features.

Suddenly however, he stopped. Moving slowly, he brought his right arm over his head, and sniffed. God he really _did_ stink. I mean, that smell was just not right. Slipping quietly out of the room, he headed up to his own bathroom, showered and changed, hoping that Joey would still be asleep when he returned.

Olivia stared at the clock. It was nine o'clock. Somehow being allowed to take a lie in wasn't so fun when your body clock was telling you that you had to get up for work. She sighed, and rolled over to look at her husband. The muted light that poked its way in through the curtains softly illumined his features. He was thinner than she had ever seen him, his face almost gaunt now. His loss of appetite had been the first symptom of his illness, although they hadn't known it at the time. After that had come the increased need of sleep, and the slight limp that developed in his walk. Such disparate symptoms, so seemingly unconnected that they neither of them suspected anything until that day in the hospital.

He had brought her flowers, come to surprise her in the early afternoon after a concert matinee in which he had performed. He had stood there, still in his tuxedo, with a bouquet of roses in one hand and his flute case in the other. His face full of light and happiness. The hopeless romantic. She ran into his arms and kissed him deeply, and then pulled back, to look into his eyes, breathlessly gazing at the man she adored. A bulb above them began to flicker. His eyes seemed to register it, but he quickly looked back into her eyes, their dazzling green seeming to light up her whole world. He had wanted to share the news with her, how he was invited to tour in Europe with the Philharmonic, and how he wanted her to come with him, for them to drop everything back home and just travel for a year together. But his eyes kept flicking back up to the light, and his face began to get paler.

His words faltered, and he stared into her eyes with a kind of nervousness that was almost fear. She had thought he was simply nervous that she would say no, and had put her arms around him, had drawn him close as he whispered her name. He leant into her, leant onto her, and suddenly she found she couldn't support his weight. She called to him but there was no response as he began to slip from her arms. He landed hard on the floor, spread out backwards, and began to convulse. Stricken, Olivia screamed for help, kneeling by his head to hold it still as he thrashed, eyes staring, horrible guttural sounds emanating from his mouth. The world dimmed as people flooded around her, and all sound fell dead upon her ears. She stared at his face as it contorted for what seemed like forever, watched as someone forced a suppressor into his mouth to stop him swallowing his tongue, followed when they moved him into a ward. Saying nothing. Hearing nothing. Seeing nothing but him.

That day had quite literally shed light upon Paul's condition. Diagnosis came less than a day later. This was all a year ago now. Paul had been forced to give up his career, to rest, but his sense of pride meant that he would not consent to any unnecessary treatments. Treatments that he knew would eat up what little time he had left, without giving him much in return.

Now as she watched him in the half-light, Olivia felt as if her whole world were crashing in on her. She moved, and kissed the lips, so soft he might have been melting away in her arms. The kiss wakened Paul and he smiled as he opened his eyes that morning. When he saw the tears streaming down his wife's cheeks he knew why, and drew her closer to him. He ran a hand over her stomach, praying that somehow, that little bundle of cells that at the moment lay within her, that little existence that they shared would grow, to leave her part of him to save her from being alone. Every moment he had left to give was hers.

**xXx xXx xXx xXx xXx**

When I'd dressed and fetched us some coffee I returned to Joey's room. He was awake by this time, and looked a little surprised to see me. I put the tray down on the bedside table, picked my trench coat off the floor and sat down beside him. He looked confused. Suddenly it occurred to me that he had woken up alone and had probably not realised that I had stayed with him at all. I was about to speak when…

"_Kaiba…I…about last night."_

He looked so nervous and uncomfortable that I could be in no doubt.

"_It's alright Joey. I was just the one who happened to be here when you needed someone. It was nothing."_

Nothing I wouldn't have done a thousand times over. Nothing that I dreamt about, that I prayed for. Nothing that I wanted more than anyone else. To be wanted, trusted…loved?

I walked over to the window and looked out. Joey's room overlooks the formal gardens and the woodlands beyond. The bit that Mokuba and I jokingly refer to as 'the back yard'. I felt like sobbing, but I sipped my coffee quietly, taking in its smell and taste with a feeling that it was more bitter than usual today. After a while, I excused myself, saying that I had to work. I told him that Olivia would be in by about 11 and that I hoped he would consider getting out of bed today.

When I got into the corridor, I went into the room and called Alexander. I think I can safely say that I gave him my most passionate performance to date. He's never seen me show such emotion and I think he was suitably impressed. When I left the room I was exhilarated, and my forehead was beaded with sweat but my mind coursed with the fire of what I had accomplished. I met Olivia in the corridor. She looked pleased to see me, although a little disconcerted at my appearance. We exchanged greetings, and she went off to see Joey, and here I am now.

I can never hope to have him.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

That bastard. That utter bastard! He walks into my emotions like that and it means _nothing_ to him? I trusted him, I let him see me at my weakest, showed him what I felt, let him comfort me in my pain and still he feels nothing? I trusted him. I thought he cared. Thought for once that maybe his heart wasn't made of stone, that it was living and could feel as mine can. I thought he and I…understood each other. But no. He's so cold, so unbelievably cold, and when he stares at you you feel it. It's so cold you think you're going to die.

I'm trapped here with him. Him and Mokuba and the Nurses. At least Mokuba and Olivia seem to care. Why the fuck did he do that? Why am I here with him and not with my friends? Where are they, and why isn't it here? I want my Dad, my sister even my Mum. Anyone except him. I want someone who cares. I want to get out of here.

**o o o o o o o o o o o o o o**

When Olivia walked into Joey's room she was rather surprised to find Joey walking out of it. Being as this was the first time he had properly been on his feet since the accident she was pleased at the fact that his only problem was a distinct limp in the left leg. He supported himself on the crutches she had left at the end of his bed to encourage him, and his face looked frankly like thunder.

"_Good morning Joey. Taking a walk?"_

The boy who hadn't even noticed her until this point started violently and almost toppled over, she caught his arm however, and he righted himself, shrugging her off.

"_Olivia!"_

Almost immediately she noticed the change, noticed the emotion contorting his features. The pain. It had finally broken through into every line of his expression, even the way he moved. They both paused.

"_Yes…I was going to go out." _Joey said finally, unsure of how she would react.

Olivia moved to one side, allowing him room to pass through.

"_Oh please." _She said politely, gesturing through the door. _"Please don't let me stop you. I'll come with you if you don't mind."_

"_Of course not."_ Joey muttered, cursing inwardly.

They walked slowly, chatting in a general way. Olivia talked about her medical training, and Joey mainly listened, but after a few minutes he halted. Olivia halted too, knowing that the question was coming.

"_Why has no one come to see me?"_

"_Well,"_ said Olivia, as they continued to walk. _"It's been very difficult to get them here. They've been getting a lot of unnecessary press attention."_

"_Bullshit!" _Joey cursed, not noticing the direction in which they were walking. _"A few cameras shouldn't be enough to separate me from my friends. What about my Mum and sister?"_

Olivia smiled, as she led him to the main window at the front of the house. Stopping in front of it, she turned to face him.

"_Who said anything about a few cameras?"_

Joey paused, and frowned, before moving forward to look out of the window. He froze at what he saw.

His eyes traced the driveway, an avenue lined with trees leading to the walls of the compound, and the high iron gates. Behind the gate, crammed to the very bars were at least 100 paparazzi. Film crews and regular newspaper reporters and just about any sort of journalist you could imagine, all waiting, all preparing to pounce on whosoever came in or went out. As he watched he saw a movement, someone in the front row gesturing up at him, and suddenly the flashbulbs began to pop. He almost fancied he could hear the roar of the crowd. He backed away from the window, almost falling to get out of sight. He made his way over to a chair and sat staring up at Olivia.

"_Getting the idea?"_ She asked calmly.

* * *

Why all the press you ask? Well, you'll just have to wait for the next exciting instalment! **Chapter 19 – Outside**, coming soon. 

Let me know what you're thinking, click that lil' ol' button down there...


	19. Outside

Thanks for all your comments so far, please keep reviewing.

I hope you're enjoying this as much as I am.

* * *

**Chapter 19 – Outside**

"_What the hell do you think you're doing?" _Seto's voice was angry as he strode in on the scene. _"I've just heard from one of the guards that you've been seen at the window."_

Olivia rushed forward to stop him. _"He needed to know what was going on, to understand why his friends weren't able to be here."_

"_Do you have even the slightest comprehension how hard I've worked to keep him out of the sight of those jackals?" _Seto bellowed in her face. _"You have gone completely beyond your jurisdiction here Olivia!"_

Unfazed, Olivia pulled Seto of the sight of the window, aware that they too had now been caught on film. _"He has a right to know Seto, you can't try to hide it from him, to keep him out of the world forever."_

"_She's right." _Joey's voice startled them both. Seto looked over Olivia's shoulder at the boy in the chair. He seemed smaller somehow, shrunken, and his hands were trembling. _"I need to know. I have to understand why they are there."_ He looked up into Seto's eyes. _"Please tell me what's going on."_

Seto nodded in assent and Olivia excused herself from the room. Joey noticed the uneasiness in her eyes as she looked at Kaiba, he'd have to say something.

They walked slowly away from the landing with the window. Kaiba explained that he'd kept all the details in his study. As they headed in the direction of Seto's wing, they passed the door to Mokuba's room, the owner of which quickly appeared.

"_Joey!"_ Joey found it very difficult to remain standing when the 14 year old pounced on him, hugging him around the waist. His brother coolly detached the raven haired child from Joey and they continued walking, now with Mokuba in tow.

"_Where are you going?"_ He asked, curiosity making his eyes shine.

"_To my study."_ Kaiba replied plainly.

Joey smiled down at the boy, _"Your brother's gonna tell me why all the press are out there."_

"_Oh wow! It was so cool!"_ Mokuba said, walking backwards so he could talk to Joey. _"Can I tell him some? Can I Seto please?"_

"_Yes Mokuba." _Seto sighed, and then pointing behind his brother. _"Stairs Mokuba."_

After crossing the top of the main staircase they came into Kaiba's corridor, and entered the study. Sitting himself on a sofa, and allowing Mokuba to fuss and offer him more cushions than he would need to support his entire bodyweight, he looked over at the man with answers. Kaiba was rooting around in a drawer.

"_Mokuba, seeing as you want to talk…Why don't you tell Joey what happened on the day of his accident?"_

The boy's eyes widened in glee, as Seto continued to shuffle and sort things into two different piles. The littlest Kaiba shuffled closer to Joey, and began talking as if he was telling a bedtime story.

"_It was late on a Thursday afternoon, when Seto and I had just dropped you off at your house."_

Joey rolled his eyes. _"I was there Mokuba, I remember that bit."_

For his interruption he received a scowl that was shockingly similar to a certain blue-eyed six-footer that he knew. Mokuba soon dropped the evil glare however and continued with his story. _"We were driving back, when Seto told the driver he would run back instead, and he got out of the car."_

Joey felt his eyes widen as he heard how Kaiba had literally been running past his house when he'd fallen. Why had Kaiba decided to run that day? It seemed so strange.

"_And as he ran into your driveway you literally fell right at his feet, and your Dad was stood at the top of the stairs looking down, and he thought…"_ Mokuba hesitated. Joey looked at Kaiba's back, realised that he had stopped moving, as though he was pausing to listen, or remembering. Joey nodded at Mokuba.

"_I know what he thought kiddo."_

"_Yeah, and anyway Seto told your Dad to back off, and tried to find out if you were breathing, you started to talk but then blacked or something, and Seto didn't know what to do, and then…" _he said, puffing out his little chest like he was coming to the climax, the most amazing point ever made in the history of just about anything that had to do with anything, _"he called 915."_

The boy paused, beaming at Joey as if it should all make perfect sense now. Unfortunately for Joey, it didn't, and he voiced his confusion.

"_Ermm…Mokuba…What's 915?"_

"_It's my own private emergency number."_ Seto interjected, bringing a considerable pile of papers over as he sat himself down opposite. _"It was allotted to me when I entered the list of the top 10 most threatened people on the planet. It's an honour I assure you."_ He said sardonically.

Mokuba, looking slightly irritated, jumped back into the conversation before his brother could speak again. _"And anyway, whenever this number is dialled, on any phone anywhere, a signal is sent to this satellite that works out within…"_

"_A nanosecond."_

"_That works out within a nanosecond whether it is Seto."_

"_How?"_

"_There's a chip in me."_

"_Ooh, like a dog. Now who's the mutt?"_

"_Shut up you two I'm telling a story."_

"_Where's the chip Kaiba?"_

"_None of your business Joey."_

"_Oh really? Are you so sure?"_

"_I said SHUT UP!"_

The two men stared at the boy, wide-eyed, and in Joey's case entirely bereft of the smirk it had been developing. Mokuba sighed.

"_As I was SAYING. It works out if it is Seto, and if it is or he's nearby it contacts every emergency department for a thousand miles in any direction and tells them that Seto Kaiba is in mortal danger and must be found."_

"_What???"_ Joey was, needless to say, ever so slightly shocked by this. He looked over at Kaiba, who indicated a screen on the wall behind him, before pressing a button. The screen came to life, and as the pictures unfolded before Joey's eyes, he was almost certain that he was hallucinating.

He saw his apartment building, saw the faded pink exterior he had known since his childhood, saw the white steps. He realised that the shots were taken from above in what must have been a helicopter judging from the noise. He saw the staircase he had fallen down, covered in dark splashes that he assumed must be his own blood. Then he noticed the banners at the top and bottom of the screen, and realised that this was a news broadcast. There was a figure on the ground, surrounded by paramedics. With a gasp he recognized his own hair. The figure was him, and standing over him was a tall figure it a white t-shirt, Seto? This didn't seem unusual, it was just rather scary to watch yourself in that condition. Until it registered in his mind that he couldn't see much of the grey gravel of the drive. The camera zoomed out.

"_Oh…My…God."_

Trucks, cars, fire engines, ambulances, motorcycles, even a tank. Milling around these vehicles could be no less than a thousand people. Swarming over the road and driveway, standing on the roofs of buildings and cars in order to see. The camera panned up. Hundreds of helicopters in the sky, all looking down on him, and Kaiba.

"_That is 915."_ Said Kaiba, solemnly.

"_Told you it was cool." _Said Mokuba, beaming at him.

Joey said nothing, eyes still fixed on the screen over Kaiba's head.

Back on the ground, the people parted like the Red Sea as Joey was carried into the ambulance, Kaiba followed slowly behind, reporters leaning in to ask him questions. Suddenly, even over the noise of the helicopter, there came the sound of an explosion. The camera jerked back up to look at the apartment building as flames burst out of the window, plumes of smoke and fire pouring out into the open air. The camera moved shifted over to look at the firemen, but they appeared to be trapped behind the crowd. Then came the sound of screaming, and the camera shifted back to see Kaiba tearing up the staircase to the door of his apartment. The dark haired boy tried the door, but it didn't seem to open. Taking a step back Kaiba kicked the door in. A roar of flame burst from the doorframe, knocking him backwards against the railing, but once it had cleared, Kaiba disappeared into the building. People on the driveway were screaming, fire-fighters forced their way through and began to mount the stairs finally, but before they could suddenly Kaiba emerged, a figure slung over his shoulder. It took Joey a moment to recognize his father, who was taken from Kaiba by a fireman and carried over to an ambulance. They hurried off the staircase as quickly as they possibly could, and the screen turned black.

Joey felt his eyes slide slowly off of the screen and down onto the icy azure of Seto's hard stare. He owed him everything.

"_Here."_ Said the C.E.O., tossing papers onto the coffee table in front of him. He read the headlines.

"_Seto Kaiba In Horrific Accident."_

"_Famous Duelist Feared Dead."_

"_Joey and Kaiba: Lovers?"_

"_Boy Murdered By Father Is Kaiba's Lover."_

"_Kaiba Arranges Death of Rival."_

"_Kaiba Arranges Death Of Lover."_

"_Yugi Moto Forces Joey To Suicide?"_

"_Anthony Wheeler: A Monster In Our Midst."_

"_Yugi and Kaiba Plot Joey's Death – A Bitter End to a Love Triangle."_

"_Tea: My Love for Joey. The Real Story."_

"_Tristan: My Hatred For Kaiba. The Real Story."_

"_Irene Wheeler: I Married A Murderer."_

"_Joey In Coma."_

"_Joey's Heartless Mother."_

"_Say A Prayer For Joey."_

And so it went on as countless headlines landed in front of him, implicating everyone from Tristan and Tea to his Mother, to Kaiba, to Mokuba. No one had escaped unscathed by the journalist's pen. Everyone had been accused of being his lover, or his killer or both. The later in date the papers got, the clearer it was however, that the press had rounded whole heartedly on his father. Yet somehow it didn't diminish their seeming wish to ruin the lives of everyone involved.

Joey put his head in his hands, as Kaiba began to speak again.

"_What you saw outside today was about a third less than when you arrived here, and less than a tenth of the number that parked outside the hospital while you were in it. There are gangs like that at school, at the houses of all your friends, even you most distant relatives. Anyone who has duelled with you has been implicated, even the friends of those who duelled with you. All we can hope is that it will die down. A lot of it is due to the fact that I was there, but even that wouldn't have mattered if it hadn't been for the fact that you've been on TV and are friends with Yugi. It's a whole lot of causes, but the end result is what you saw outside."_

Joey sighed heavily. Looking up into Kaiba's eyes again his feelings towards him softened a little, they looked so tired with worry, exhaustion written in every angle of his face.

"_I still need to see my friends."_ He said quietly.

"_I know," _Kaiba replied, rising from his seat,_ "but I can do something about that."  
_

* * *

**Chapter 20 - Reunion **will be up soon. Let me know how you think it should go._  
_


	20. Reunion

Hey guys, I've been back and fixed a few continuity errors. Prizes if you can guess what and where they were!

Disclaimer - If I owned Yugioh, Tea would have been sent to the Shadow Realm! (If she was at some point then that craps up that, but I don't own it.)

* * *

**Chapter 20 – Reunion**

It's night time, and my darling younger brother has somehow managed to send me to bed. It's dark in here, but I don't particularly feel like turning on any lights. The only light is my laptop screen, the light in my life. How cliché. I am sat in the dark, typing, and the fear washes over me in waves that make my insides clench.

I'd forgotten. Just hearing the video was enough to remind me, seeing his face, and remembering that afternoon. He could have died, then and there when I was with him. He came so close, if he hadn't been so strong he would be dead.

In that apartment, my own personal _Inferno_, I saw the whole of Joey's world crashing down around my ears. I saw photos of him and his sister amid broken glass and torrents of flame. I saw things he had touched, that he had loved, things that mattered, because if Joey died, these things were all that remained, these things that were burning away before my eyes. Even if Mr Wheeler had pushed him, which I thought he had, he had to face justice for what he had done, to pay properly for destroying Joey's world. As I carried the man I thought was a murderer out of the building I saw marks on the walls, savage bloody handprints. Signs as I thought of Joey's suffering. I nearly left him in there, but I couldn't.

The trial is postponed until Joey is ready to clear everything up. In the meantime I have to find a psychologist…make that a team of psychologists to work with Mr Wheeler. Tomorrow I'll begin to work to make things right, but for now I'm finding it hard to get over how close I came to losing him.

Joey's room isn't too far away, I might just go and take another look.

Caught by Mokuba, who ought to be in bed himself. I feel like a sulking child. To hell with it I'm the boss around here.

Mokuba is sufficiently told off, and has gone to bed. think I'm going to take my laptop and sit outside Joey's room.

It's cold in the corridor. Maybe I could just sit inside the room a little.

The floor is hard. Maybe I could just go sit in that chair by his bed.

**o o o o o o o o o o o o o o**

Joey awoke to the noise of tapping. Tapping? It sounded like a keyboard. A keyboard was attached to a computer. The only times he ever heard that sound were at Yugi's, where he would be too busy chatting to fall asleep, and at school, when Kaiba was sat behind him at the back of the class. Shit.

Joey sat bold upright.

"_I'm sorry I didn't mean to I'm awake honest!" _He blurted out loudly. He heard a loud crash to the right hand side of him, and realised that it was pitch black.

"_What the?" _ No, he wasn't at school, which was good. He was in a bed, which was also good. But he wasn't alone. Definitely not good. Reaching out slowly with his right arm, he groped about for a lamp, and finding one, switched it on.

"_HOLY SHIT!! I! Kaiba?"_

The figure in question was, at the moment the light had turned on, leaning forward to retrieve a laptop from the floor, which was apparently the cause of the crashing sound he had heard. Kaiba remained frozen for a second, brain overloaded with thoughts of how the hell he was going to explain this, and whether to try or just panic and run for his life and pretend it never happened. After a pause however, he slowly straightened himself up, taking the offending article into his lap. He stared at the technology under his fingertips for a moment, before slowly bringing his gaze up to meet Joey's.

For a split second he thought he saw emotion in the eyes, but then it was gone behind icy blue coldness. It was then that Joey noticed…

"_Kaiba…Have you been crying?"_

Kaiba frowned, bringing his finger up to the corner of his eye, wiping a tear from it. He examined the finger somewhat blankly, as if he couldn't quite comprehend what he was seeing. He opened his mouth, shut it, tried to come up with an excuse, failed and finally answered, ever so quietly.

"_Yes."_

"_Why?"_

The dark haired boy stared down into his lap again, frowning. _"I don't really know." _There was a pause. _"I suppose it's because for at least two of the four minutes I spent waiting for help, I couldn't tell whether or not you were alive." _His voice began to accelerate._ "I shook you and shouted at you. I yelled for help, and no one came. I scrabbled for your pulse, and held the screen of my PDA in front of your mouth to see if you were breathing, but I couldn't feel and I couldn't see properly. My fingers were numb. I-!" _He stopped himself, drew his breath, and continued slowly. _"couldn't find one. No matter how hard I tried. But then," _Something in the eyes relaxed, and Seto breathed out a sigh. _"then you coughed."_

"_I coughed."_ Repeated Joey, suddenly feeling rather anti-climactic.

"_Yes." _Answered Kaiba plainly. _"It was rather disgusting really, but, undoubtedly a sign of the living."_ Was that a smile?

Joey leant back against the headboard. As he had watched and listened, he had seen tensions rise and fall in the other's face, changes in colour and expression. It was as if every time Kaiba relived that afternoon, somehow deep inside he was afraid he would change the ending, like it would suddenly go wrong.

"_I'm sorry about the comment I made this afternoon."_

Kaiba raised his eyebrows. _"Comment?"_

"_I made a dog joke. That chip in you probably saved my life."_

"_It did."_

"_I owe you everything. My life Kaiba. I owe you my life."_

"_Yes. You do."_

Suddenly Joey was aware that Kaiba had moved. The dark haired teen had walked around the bed towards the window, pulling back the curtains to look out on the night sky.

"_But you know, I have never made a decision I was more glad of. If I hadn't decided to run home that Thursday, you and your father may have never found help in time, but here you are."_

Something in Kaiba's attitude spoke to Joey, and he realised something.

"_When you said last night was nothing. You didn't mean what I thought you meant did you?"_

The dark-haired teen turned, eyes questioning. _"What did you think I meant?"_

Amber eyes blurred a little as Joey looked down at his still bandaged hand. _"I thought you meant it meant literally nothing to you."_

The bed moved a little as Kaiba sat down on Joey's left hand side. Seto watched the smaller man, face in shadow, shoulders moving slightly with some unknown emotion. He reached out a hand. It hesitated a few inches before Joey's face, and then lifted his chin, bringing amber eyes to meet ultramarine.

"_I would never mean that."_

Relief swept over Joey's features like the warmth from a bright ray of sunlight. He didn't smile, but his eyes regained a sort of glow in them that Seto had never before been close enough to notice. It was beautiful.

Joey's voice was laden with emotion as Seto's hand dropped away. _"I'm glad Kaiba. Because right now you're all I've got."_

Something in the older teen's stomach plummeted. _"Not for long."_ He said quietly. _"We're seeing Yugi and the others in the morning."_

Joey was elated. _"Really! Oh God! I'll have to get dressed. Do I have any clothes? Where are they? Where do I shower? Will I have to take off the bandages? What time are they coming? How long can they stay? What's the time now? 2.30. I better get some sleep. I'm excited. Who's coming? All of them? Kaiba?"_

The dark haired boy had risen, and returning to the other side of his bed, retrieved his laptop, and was now heading for the door. At the golden-haired boy's last word however, he turned. He pointed at a wardrobe.

"_Clothes."_

He pointed at a door.

"_Bathroom."_

He pointed at the bandages.

"_Olivia will sort them."_

He pointed at the clock.

"_Ten thirty. They can stay as long as they want. All of them."_

He turned away again.

"_Kaiba. You need to forgive Olivia."_

Seto paused at this, nodded and then made his way out of the room. _"Goodnight Joey. Sleep well. Forget the dog comment. It was good to hear you joking again."_

Olivia arrived early the next morning to help Joey get ready for his impending visit. She bustled about happily, listening to Joey telling her about his friends, mentioning that they'd often been in the hospital while he was comatose. Joey still found it strange to think that he'd lost more than a month of his life asleep, but was glad that graduation wasn't till next summer, and that he had time to make up for it. Eventually 10.30 arrived. They waited downstairs. It wasn't long before they heard the throbbing whine of an arriving helicopter. French doors flung open.

"_Joey!"_

With a universal cry Yugi, Tristan and Tea essentially toppled into the lounge, before picking themselves up and hurling themselves at the blonde.

"_We missed you! Are you alright?"_

"_Has Kaiba hurt you in any way?"_

"_Mmmf! Friendship!"_

"_Good to see you looking better."_

The last comment came from Bakura, who wandered in at a more leisurely pace.

"_OW! Jeez guys get off me!"_ Was Joey's reply.

Extricating themselves from around his waist, the three helped Joey back to his feet, Yugi restoring to him the crutches which had been knocked flying. All three look sheepish.

"_Sorry Joey."_ Said Yugi, looking a little downcast.

Joey laughed._ "Don't worry yourself. I'm better. It's just a little sore you know?"_ He rubbed his left hand side. _"I still got three broken ribs."_

"_Don't worry Joey, now that you've got your friends you'll be better in no time!" _Said Tea, putting an arm around him and smiling.

"_Come on guys. Let's go sit down." _Bakura said brightly. _"Can't keep poor Joey on his feet all day."_

"_Yeah you're right." _Said Joey, turning towards the sofas. He froze at the gasp his movement elicited. _"What?" _He asked, nervously.

Yugi spoke first. _"That scar, on the back of your head. It's huge."_

"_Hunh?" _Joey ran a hand over the back of his head, fingers tracing the scar that went almost from ear to ear. _"Wow. I never noticed that one."_ He hobbled over to the sofa and sat down. Looking back at a series of bemused faces.

"_Man Joey, that looks almost like a lobotomy scar or something."_ Tristan said, eyes wide and mouth slack.

"_I did consider it as an idea, but when the surgeons went in they found there was nothing there to remove."_

The change in Tristan's facial expression alone was enough to tell Joey that Kaiba had entered the room. He threw a glance over his shoulder as the tall figure of the C.E.O. strode in. He looked back at his friends with a smile.

"_He's just messing."_ He said, indicating the sofa. Yugi, Bakura and Tea sat. Tristan continued to stand.

"_That one came from his initial fall onto the staircase."_ Said Olivia, walking in behind Kaiba, who had sat down next to Joey.

Yugi's eyes went, if possible, wider than usual. _"Nurse Newington, what are you doing here?"_

"_Mr Kaiba" _She said his name tentatively, _"hired me to look after Joey. There's been no lasting damage to his head, and you won't even notice the scar once his hair's grown back."_

"_You know Joey, you do look pretty funny all shorn like that." _Said Bakura, laughing.

Joey ran a hand over his skull, which now at least had an inch of hair growing over the top. _"I do kind of miss the old mane. But it'll grow back eventually. Tristan ya moron why don't you sit down?"_

But Tristan didn't move, he just stood there glaring at Kaiba.

"_You bastard." _He muttered, loud enough for Joey, Olivia and Kaiba alone to hear.

Kaiba stood up abruptly. _"If you think I'm gonna take that kind of lip from you in my own home Taylor you've got another thing coming."_ Blue eyes flashed angrily as Kaiba took a step towards Tristan. Tristan however was not intimidated.

"_All this time you fob us off, saying you're taking care of him! You lying sunuvabitch, you just talk him down all the time, make him feel like crap, when he needs help to get better. You're nothing but a heartless bastard!"_

"_Tristan that's enough!" _Joey was on his feet, glaring at his friend. _"You've got no idea what you're talking about. I owe Kaiba my life!" _Joey approached his friend shakily. _"I won't have you disrespecting him and if you love me you'd understand why, because you owe him too. I'd be dead if it wasn't for him."_

Joey placed a hand on Tristan's shoulder, who looked like he just received a backhand across the face.

"_Guys!" _Tea ran up beside Joey. _"Don't fight, we owe it to our friendship!"_

"_Tea's right!"_ Said Yugi. _"None of us should fight now, this should be a celebration. Right Olivia?"_ Yugi looked over to Nurse, saw her face drained and pale and…frightened? _"Olivia?"_

The others turned to look, saw as Yugi saw. Hazel eyes blank and staring, face deathly pale. Kaiba reached out and placed a hand on her shoulder.

"_Olivia?"_

With his touch it was as if she had been forced back into herself and she gasped. She stared wildly at the faces all around her for a second, and then turned, and fled from the room.

A row of stunned faces. Faces in silence. Silence drawn by confusion.

* * *

Hmm...what an abrupt ending! This chapter really is tied to **Chapter 21 - Recollections**, and everything will come clear. Well, as clear as it can... 

Flame me love me just review me!


	21. Loss

Left you a bit on tenterhooks with the last chapter, or so I hope.

**Let me know how you think it's going, means to improve and so on. i'd love to hear from you.**

* * *

**Chapter 21 – Loss**

Seto Kaiba ran down the long corridor. How had she run so fast? He felt lost in his own home. Where could she have gone?

"_Olivia?"_ He stopped to call her name, turning on the spot as the world seemed to wheel around him. She had looked so frightened. Someone who had always been so strong for him. He could hear footsteps behind him. Knew that Tristan and Bakura would be following, but they didn't know this house like him. He had to find her. Turning he headed off down a corridor on the right, and then a left, a right, and then almost tripped over.

On the floor lay a mobile phone. Olivia's phone. He picked it up and looked at the screen. He put it to his ear.

"_Livvie? What's wrong? Please tell me. Are you there?"_

"_Mr Newington?"_

"_I! Yes…Mr Kaiba? Where is she?"_

Seto looked at the door in front of him, standing slightly ajar.

"_I think I've just found her. I'll call you back."_

Slipping the phone into his pocket, he stepped quietly up to the door.

Back in the living room, Yugi and Tea sat with an extremely worried Joey.

"_I mean, what could be wrong? She always seems so happy."_ He said, leaning against the back of the sofa, his eyes fearful and wide.

"_I know what you mean."_ Said Yugi. _"When we visited you, even when it was becoming pretty certain that you weren't going to wake up, she always had something good to say. She'd removed stitches or changed a bandage, you were getting better on the outside, even if the inside maybe wasn't."_

Tea didn't say anything, she just looked down at her feet. Minutes passed in a silence that seemed to threaten to envelop them. A silence that was broken when Tristan and Bakura returned to the room.

"_No sign." _Panted the taller of the two, leant against the doorframe, as Bakura, face as pale as his hair, slumped into a chair.

"_I don't do running."_ He panted quietly, elbow on the armrest, face leant into the hand. He looked steadily up into Joey's eyes. _"Don't worry, he'll find her."_

Seto approached the door slowly. It was one of the many downstairs rooms, the only difference being that this was where Olivia was using to work towards her course. He hovered, looking into the room without entering. From the small adjoining bathroom came the noise of a flush. A noise of a door and there she was. Stepping slowly out into the wider space. Face pale and eyes wide. He slipped inside the room as she pulled the door to its clicking close behind her, leaning back against it, sliding down, landing with a heavy thud.

He moved slowly towards her, looking into the eyes that didn't even seem to have enough shine in them to reflect his presence. Her head leant back against the door with as much care as if it was no longer attached, it had merely been left there. Empty. Squatting down onto his ankles he reached out a hand, slowly, hesitantly, more than a little afraid. He put his fingertips lightly to her cheek, and moved closer as he let them slip round to cup the side of her face.

She spoke, a hollow quiet sound that pierced his soul.

"_It's gone. It didn't work."_

He frowned a little, trying to figure out her meaning, and then her eyes came alive, staring straight into his own. Realization hit him like a wave of water, so icy cold he almost shivered. Her eyes were pleading, emotion tearing at her like a torrent in which he would surely drown.

"_How can you be sure?"_

"_How can I be sure?"_ Her voice grew louder, almost hysterical, and yet her eyes remained dry. _"Seto you may be intelligent, but you know nothing at all if you can't guess that."_

Her words struck him hard, making him wince. Looking up at her, meeker, he saw her eyes widened, watering.

"_Oh Seto, I'm sorry. I didn't mean it. I didn't mean it I didn't I"_

He pulled her towards him, slipping down onto his knees as he pulled her face into his shoulder. Her sobs shook him, angry and anguished, for life lost, tormented by the thought of what might never be. So much grief, so much he didn't know. How could he know if she didn't tell him. How could she tell him? He needed her to be strong, but there are times when even the strong must allow themselves to be weak. He held her close, understanding and yet not fully understanding. Realising that love for someone could be like this, and that the woman in his arms was probably the first person who could be called a friend for his sake alone. She didn't have to be the way she was with him. He would have hired her even if she had been some heartless bitch most probably, but she wasn't. He wanted her to be happy, for her own sake. Was that selflessness? Was he her friend? It made him nervous to consider it. Sometime he'd ask her, but not now.

Eventually, once the sobs had died away, she spoke again.

"_I have to go home. Paul will worry."_

"_Yes, of course."_ He pulled a small device from his left pocket, tapping deftly. _"A car will be waiting outside."_ He stood up, bringing her to her feet. _"Can you stand?"_

Oddly she felt, as her knees buckled under her and he swept her into his arms, she probably would have been able to, had he not asked her. As it was she let him carry her, curiously disarmed by his words. When she had first met him, he had been the wreck, and in many ways she had carried him to this point, the point when he could carry her.

He put her gently into the open car door, looking up into her face tenderly. Wordless messages passed between them for a moment. He kissed her forehead and stood up.

"_If I don't hear from you for a few days I'll understand."_

She nodded, he shut the door and the car drove off. Olivia shrank into her seat, anxious to avoid the press that crowded round the car, slowing her escape. There seemed more of them than usual, someone had twigged where Yugi and the others were.

Joey sat with his back to the door, talking about how long his recovery would take, and other things Olivia had told him, when he realised that his friends weren't looking at him any more. Looking slowly over his right shoulder he saw Seto, leant against the doorframe, hair tousled, shoulder tearstained, look stern.

"_Is she alright?" _Yugi asked. The wrong question.

"_No."_

"_Will she be?" _Joey asked. The right question.

Seto paused, hesitated even, a look of pain flitting stealthily over his features.

"_I think so."_ He turned and left.

They sat together, uncertain. Then Bakura got up from his seat and walked over to the window. He watched in a half amused, half terrified manner as a member of the press who had apparently…parachuted in, was rugby tackled by a hoard of guards and dragged away. Turning away from the window, he looked over at his friends.

"_We need to do something about this."_

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

It's been decided. Until this has all died down, it's best that as many of the gang as possible get away from Domino. Yugi is going to visit his parents. Tea and Tristan have relatives in Europe that they can go to, and Bakura will just spend some time in the UK. He is right. Things are only going to get worse when I go out in public, and none of them can afford the level of protection I've got with Kaiba. They need to get away, and I need time to heal. I have a goal now, to be back on my feet, to be healthy, to have this all this legal stuff sorted out in time for September. The last year of school. I want it to be our best. This is for the best. None of us want to be apart, but we have the internet, and phones, and Tea can write a pretty good letter when she feels like it. It will be fine.

I don't know what happened to Olivia. I guess she'll tell me if she wants to, but it seems to be between her and Kaiba.

I'll admit I was kind of jealous, to see the emotion in him. Emotion for her. Maybe there's something there that I don't know about. Could there be? No. I mean I'm sure they're not. She has a husband. But that meant nothing to my mother. Oh God, they can't be. Are they?

I'm being irrational, and I've just ruined a pretty good sketch of the fireplace in here as a result. If they are, what business is it of mine? Damnit Joey you know exactly what business it is of yours. The problem is you're in no position to be making demands on anyone. Who'd choose you over anyone now? No one, and certainly not him.

Today I get my friends back only to lose them again. Tomorrow…all I can hope is that things turn out better with my Dad.

* * *

I don't own Yugioh, but I sort of wish I did. The maybe I'd be like a female version of Kaiba, only probably more evil.

Please review me, it would mean a lot to me, and I'd like to thank those of you who have been reading this since the beginning.


	22. Open Doors

It's been a little while, and it's time for a change of pace. I hope you enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 22 – Open Doors**

Official statement handed into the police, Joey Wheeler felt a weight being lifted from his chest as he stepped out of the interview room. Walking on crutches alongside the taller, darker form of Seto Kaiba, they talked quietly.

"_Are you sure you want to do this Joey?"_ Seto asked, pensively.

"_I've cleared his name in the sight of the law, but people will want to know, and maybe if I do this they'll leave us alone."_ Joey's face was set.

"_Maybe…"_ Seto trailed off, wondering. _"But maybe once they've seen you they'll just want more. They're not like normal people Joey. They're animals and you're their prey right now. I'm not sure it's wise."_

"_They have to at least know something, or they won't know why my Dad's been acquitted."_

Kaiba nodded in assent as, taking a door on the right, they entered a room buzzing with paparazzi. All talk ceased as Joey, leading the way, took his place on the podium, wincing a little in the light. Stepping close behind him Kaiba slipped the sheet of paper he had written his statement on in front of him. A lens clicked, someone outside his line of sight coughed and Joey began.

"_I…I'd like to thank everyone who has helped me since my accident. I would like to thank those of you who prayed for me, and those of you who wrote letters of support to my family. I thank you, because you have brought me to where I am today._

"_But I'm not here to give thanks, as many as there are to give. I am here to set the record straight."_ At this a murmur threaded its lightening quick way through the room. _"My father has committed no crime against me or anyone else that I know of. Not in his whole life. My father…my Dad means the world to me, and I want him free, because he's done nothing wrong, and because I need him. What happened to me a couple of months ago was an accident. Nothing more. If anyone is to blame then it's me. But right now I have no time for blame, because I have…I have my life to live. I have too much to do to spend time regretting things. I hope now, that now people can begin to let their lives get back to normal, and the journalists will use their ink on more interesting people than me. Thank you."_

Joey began to make his way down from the podium as the room filled with noise, but a hand gesture from one of the event co-ordinators suggested that he should stay and answer some questions. A reporter in the front row was selected.

"_Joey, what do you think was Mr Kaiba's motive for supporting you through your treatment?"_

Joey frowned at the odd question. _"Well I suppose…I suppose considering his being there when it happened and all..."_ He glanced over at Kaiba nervously, Kaiba remained motionless.

Another hand, swiftly followed by another voice.

"_What is the nature of your relationship with Kaiba?"_

"_Well we go to school together, and we've competed against each other a few times…"_

"_Are you IN a relationship with Mr Kaiba?"_

Joey's eyes went wide. How did he answer that? Was he? He looked at Kaiba again. No response.

"_I…I…That's not really anyone's business. Kaiba is helping me out I mean…does it really matter why?"_

More voices and hands. The coordinator mentioned something about one more question.

"_What does Yugi, your best friend, think about your relationship with his rival?"_

"_Wait a minute I haven't said…"_

With a sigh and a roll of his eyes, Seto nodded to the co-ordinator, who abruptly ended the conference.

Joey collapsed into the corridor, leaning against the wall with an expression that read of deep-seated confusion.

Kaiba strolled into the corridor and leant casually against the wall with a facial expression that read, very simply: I told you so.

A small raven haired figure approached a less than pristine front door, in a less than stylish apartment block, in a less than classy end of town. A part of him hesitated, she couldn't really live here? I mean, after all, did people really live like this? He tried to remember the orphanage, but it was just a series of fuzzy, inconsistent images, some kids, a hill with a tree on? Maybe. He remembered the chess. He remembered everything that involved his brother. But now, as he scrutinised a slight crack in the white paint, he felt, possibly for the first time in his life, a little bit ignorant.

He knocked. The door opened a little.

"_Mokuba?"_

"_Hello Olivia, may I come in?"_

The door opened a fraction more, and the raven-headed form of Mokuba Kaiba entered.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

A small woman with a beaklike face led him into the room.

"_Here is your office Mr Alexander."_ She chirped, irritatingly.

After a few moments in which she flittered about, tweeting to tell him where things were and how things worked and so on she finally swooped out of the room in a rather dramatic style that left the door swinging.

Matthew strolled over to the desk in a rather bored manner, flicking a glance casually at the gold plated desk label: Matthew Alexander C.E.O. As if anyone who entered this office wouldn't know the name. He snorted. Anyone who dared presume to enter this office in ignorance would certainly lose their job, whether or not it was he who employed them. That bird woman would not be his secretary in the morning. He didn't like the ones who talked. Let them all be silent and let him do the talking. Things just worked better that way.

He sat down in the almost preposterously large desk chair, and turned to face the plate glass window. He looked out over the city, recalling the moment that had made his fame.

Two years ago, less than a floor below him, in the large conference room which the mezzanine level his office was on overlooked, the Chief Executives of the Hatoshi Games Corporation were holding his annual meeting. It was late at night to avoid the bustle of the normal day, and the only lights were those that hung low over the table. It was Mr Hatoshi who spoke first.

"_Alright. We all know that this company is in pretty dire straits at this point in time. Kaiba Corp is crushing us, and we need something truly spectacular to even get ourselves back in the fight again. Ideas first."_

The man who spoke first leant forward onto the desk with a face that was almost a smirk of pleasure. Arnold Baxter, Head of Purchasing, or whatever its proper name was. Take his waist-band in centimetres and multiply it by a thousand and you'd have written down about a third of the man's salary. And Mr Baxter here was a very large man. He was a toad in almost every sense, and his voice was a gravely croak.

"_Yes Mr Hatoshi, we are all very well aware of the state of the business."_ He croaked, flicking out a tongue to lick his lips. _"And what we need is investment. We must invest in our researchers, buy them the parts they need to build the system that will change our fortunes. We need a new console. It's now been four years since the Omicron, and even that hardly had mind-blowing sales. We must invest."_ He landed a fist on the granite table-top for extra emphasis.

"_I wouldn't listen to Mr Baxter if I were you."_ Came another voice.

The people sitting at the table stared around at each other, trying to find the source of the voice, but everywhere they stared was the same blank expression.

"_I'm not sat at the table."_ Came the voice again, floating on the air like silken ice.

Baxter snorted gruffly.

"_Some damn coward is trying to spread dissent Mr Hatoshi. If whoever it is won't reveal themselves, there's obviously no real grounds for complaint. I suggest we get on with our meeting." _He shuffled his notes nervously and gave a little dry cough.

"_Oh but Mr Baxter, I have every intention of revealing myself."_ Said the voice, as a figure stepped into the light.

The man was tall and lean, with a shock of short but glossy black hair that moved gently without becoming messy. A few locks strayed over the ivory forehead, glancing over the penetratingly dark eyes. He wore pinstripe trousers in a dark grey, with a matching fitted waistcoat over the crisp white shirt. He moved forward slowly, placing his palms against the cool granite. His features were fine, and he moved with an elegance that spoke of powerful confidence, and without doubt arrogance. His eyes levelled squarely with Mr Hatoshi's.

"_Hatoshi Games is going out of business, and the man who would advise you. Our dear friend Mr Baxter here."_ He said, indicating the toad-like form to his left with a nonchalant flick of his wrist. _"Is the cause of it."_

The men around the table gasped and started talking almost immediately. Baxter's croak could be heard struggling to find listeners among the babble.

"_This is preposterous! Who is this man to make such accusation! Preposterous! Let him be removed immediately!" _

"_SILENCE!"_

All eyes flew to Mr Hatoshi, who stood now, staring at the man at the opposite end of the table. No one had ever heard the man so much as raise his voice before now. They listened.

"_Let the man speak."_ Hatoshi returned to his seat. The people waited.

"_In the records, which you will find in Mr Baxter's office, there is a file. The file is labelled Hawaiian Valley Electronics. These invoices…"_ He tossed a sheaf of papers onto the table that slid into Hatoshi's grasp. _"prove that every month for the last seven years a large amount of money, approximately 4 times Mr Baxter's extortionate six figure salary, has been paid to this company. A company which, I assure you, does not exist."_

Silence, awestruck silence. Baxter spluttered.

"_That's a damn lie! Falsehood! Hawaiian Valley provides our researchers with their equipment!"_

"_Oh really Baxter?"_ Said the man, raising an eyebrow, _"Because I was under the impression that our research equipment came from Kaiba Corp. Another genius decision of yours. You've been sapping money out of this company, while using your computer skills to make it appear that the company is failing. You're sending this company under Baxter. To hide your embezzlement and because it will prove highly profitable for you with the company you really work for. Does the name Duke Devlin ring any bells?"_

More paper on the desk, photos this time. Grabbed by hands with cries of fear and triumph from the men around the table. Uproar again. Chaos as Mr Baxter tried to edge his way out of the room. He found the door barred by Mr Hatoshi.

"_Arnold. We were once friends. But I'll see you in jail for what you've done to my company." _A shout brought the security team, people piling into the room. Baxter was dragged out croaking in terror that he was innocent. Again the room was quiet, and the men's faces more haggard than before as they returned to their seats.

"_We must have lost millions."_ Hatoshi muttered, his head in his hands. _"We have to fight for our business to survive."_

Silence still, and then a single voice to the right hand side of the man who still stood at the end of the table.

"_But how?"_

All eyes instinctively turned to the man on his feet. Even Hatoshi. The stranger paused, but then.

"_We have to save ourselves. The case to get back the money will take years, and we may never get it all back even then. We haven't got the resources to make it to the top of the competition, we can never outstrip Kaiba Corp, or even Black Crown. We have to get out of their way, build our own market with something new until we have regained the strength we need to make our way in the gaming world."_

Hatoshi stared. _"Our own market? What with?"_

The response was immediate. _"Simulation. It has always been our strength and yet we've never made the most of that. Until now we've always applied our simulation capacity to gaming, and Seto Kaiba has simply got better graphics than us. Baxter has had us buying second rate graphics technology from him for years. We need independence. That means industrial simulation. Real-life simulation tailored to the needs of the corporation. Every business has its dangerous jobs. Simulators can help them train their staff, to work out exactly how an accident occurred, even help them work out how to prevent it. It's not much, but it's the start we need."_

"_Not much?" _Hatoshi was dumbfounded. _"It's genius. How long have you been working here, what post are you in?"_

"_I'm a mailroom clerk sir. I've been here a month."_

"_A month? Who are you?_

A smile crept over the thin set lips as the stranger delivered the line that made him a legend.

"_My name is Matthew Alexander, and in two years time, I'll be running this company."_

And now as Mr Alexander sat back in his chair he had been proved right. His actions that evening had shot him from Mailroom Clerk to a top Executive post in the amount of time it took most people to make a cup of coffee in this building. Now that Hatoshi's company was on the up, he had retired, and Alexander was in charge. Running the business without the responsibility of actually owning it. That was freedom, that was what he craved. Power without ties. In six months he would leave, take another company out of the marshes and into the headlines.

"_But for now" _He muttered, swinging his chair round so that he was looking at the biggest building on the skyline, _"I have other plans."_

Tapered fingers withdrew a mobile phone from his breast pocket, and he casually flipped it open. He dialled.

"_Hello? Yes. I need to know everything you know about Seto Kaiba."  
_

* * *

Go on, review me. It'll make my day.

If I owned Yugioh this would be on screen. Duh.


	23. Release

Well, I haven't heard from anyone in a while, so I really hope I haven't been putting you guys off!

Let me know what you think, like, hate, want more of, want less of...just about anything really.

For now enjoy, I certainly am.

* * *

**Chapter 23 – Release**

Mokuba Kaiba sat in an ordinary apartment. The more he looked around the more he realised that although everything in here felt different, it was also overwhelmingly familiar. He began to wonder if Olivia had magnets on her fridge doors. He remembered that on the fridge back home there were magnets. He remembered how they were on the lower part of the fridge so that he could play with them. There were a pair of ducks and some little bears: Mummy Bear, Daddy Bear, Seto Bear and Mokuba Bear. He remembered that He and Seto had stuck some black felt on Mokuba Bear so that it looked more like him. But this wasn't why he was here.

He was sat on a sofa, facing a writing desk and a door into…the bedroom? That was where Olivia had gone, probably to neaten up a bit or something. Was the bed in there big enough for two small kids to clamber into on a Sunday morning? Could they all sit there pretending to read newspapers and drinking orange juice and tickling each other when Mokuba in particular got bored? Ah! She was back.

Olivia slipped into the living room, wearing a dressing gown and a nervous smile. Her hair was neater, and her face looked as if she had splashed cold water on it. She sat down next to the figure on the sofa, and waited.

"_You have to come back to work Olivia."_

Olivia sighed. _"Mokuba I've only been away for three days. I'm not well. I need time to get better."_

"_It's four days Livvie."_ Said Paul casually as he wandered out of the bedroom and towards the kitchen. _"Good morning Mr Kaiba."_

"_Mokuba this is my husband Paul."_

"_Please call me Mokuba Mr Newington."_

"_It's Paul…would you like something to drink?"_

"_No thanks!"_

Olivia was embarrassed. _"Ok, so four days."_

"_Five if you count the day you left early."_ Came the voice from the kitchen.

"_Thank you sweetheart."_ Olivia looked at Mokuba. _"Has something happened?"_

Mokuba looked down towards his feet, which didn't reach the ground, but hovered over it. _"Not yet, but Joey went and handed in his statement this morning."_

"_He did WHAT?" _Olivia's hands flew to the top of her head. _"Oh my God! That means his father will be…and he'll…and Seto will…I have to get ready!" _ She got to her feet and sprinted out of the room. _"Go home Mokuba! I'll be there in half an hour!"_

Mokuba rose to his feet, smiling, and turned to see Paul leant against the kitchen doorframe in his dressing gown. _"Better give her an hour Mokuba."_

The littlest Kaiba looked into the face of Olivia's husband. For such a young man, he couldn't be much older than thirty, surely Paul didn't look…healthy? The tousled soft brown hair tumbled over an unlined forehead, but the face was so…he was just so thin. Mokuba felt his eyes widen as he watched a hand rise up to run over the hair, a hand that was little more than bones and skin, skin like paper. Paul saw the staring eyes and blushed, tucking his hands into his dressing gown pockets, only too aware of how they looked. He avoided looking into the staring eyes.

"_It was nice to meet you Mr Kaiba." _He said quietly, before turning and re-entering the kitchen as quickly as he could.

Mokuba stood for a few seconds, frowning, before tripping his way lightly out of the room.

Paul walked backwards into the bedroom, carefully keeping his hands under the tray balanced on top. He had already managed to break one mug this morning by forgetting that he couldn't grip things to pick them up. It had earned him a nasty scald on the foot, but ironically he had lost sensation in that foot a few days ago getting out of the bath and it hadn't come back. Olivia was fussing her way through the wardrobe, trying to pick out a suit that would appear both smart and approachable. Paul stood there for a few seconds, before making himself known.

"_Erm…Liv…could you…"_

Olivia turned and frowned for a second before gasping and rushing forward to take the tray from him. He sat down on the bed, and when she handed him the mug she sat down beside him. He took a small sip, and then spoke.

"_We can't have this again my love."_

Olivia's brows knitted. _"What do you mean?"_

Paul sighed. _"I mean we can't have you like this. These last few days, you've been so tired and quiet and unlike yourself. It's not right."_

Olivia opened her mouth to defend herself, but he shushed her. _"Not yet. Yes, we lost our baby, and it's sad. But we don't have time to be sad. I think it's best if we don't try again."_

"_What? No! You can't mean that! Can you?"_ Her eyes softened, supplicating.

He put the mug gingerly down on the floor with both hands, and slipped an arm over her shoulder. He put a hand to her cheek.

"_You're so young my love."_

"_You say that like you're so old."_

"_Alright, so I'm thirty, but I'm thirty and coming to the end of my life. You're twenty-eight, and you're only at the beginning of yours. You have all the time in the world to have a family. Maybe our family should just stay us."_

Olivia felt the knots begin to clench in her throat again. _"But…but I want our baby. I want you to stay."_ Her voice was quiet, she put her head on his shoulder.

He drew her close. _"And I don't want to go, but it's the way things are. All we can do is make the most of what we have left my love. I don't want any more heartbreak."_ He took her by the shoulders and looked deep into her hazel eyes. _"Lets just live, and do as much as we can, lets not try for things that maybe aren't meant to be."_

Olivia found herself nodding, smiling even through her tears. A weight she had scarcely been aware of seemed to lift from her, and she was happy again.

**xXx xXx xXx xXx xXx xXx xXx**

I am sat behind a one way mirror, watching something I could not have imagined happening, even a few days ago.

The room I am watching is a secure one in a Sanatorium just outside of Domino. Mr Wheeler has finally been released from prison, and is getting the help he needs here. I am seeing to it that he gets exactly what he needs. He sits in a chair, his head hung low as he stares into his palms. He is clean, and he looks healthier, and beside me I hear Joey taking a deep breath, before he moves around to leave the observation room. As he walks past me, his hand brushes my shoulder, making the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end. The smell of him lingers.

In the room behind the mirror, a door opens slightly. Mr Wheeler looks up. No doubt he heard the noise of the door or maybe he can just recognise the smell of Joey, or maybe Joey said "Dad". As the head pops around the door I find myself once again amazed at how quickly his hair is growing. In six months time you'll never know it was cut.

Joey's face is nervous, but he smiles at the sight of his Dad. Mr Wheeler's eyes are wide like a child's, and he says nothing. Joey slips into the room, well, as easily as you can slip into any space with a crutch, but at least he only has one now.

Joey seems to be speaking, I can't think what about. He moves forward unsteadily. His Dad just watches, why won't he move? Joey stumbles, and I jump up but he seems ok, he's on his knees looking up at his father. He speaks again, and I swear I can almost hear the words.

"_I'm sorry."_

And now his arms are wrapped around Mr Wheeler's waist and he's sobbing into his chest. Mr Wheeler looks frightened for a moment, but as he rests his hands on his son's head the tears begin to fall. I turn away.

I don't understand their emotions. I feel like I should but it's all so…alien to me. To watch them. I just feel uncomfortable.

**o o o o o o o o o o o o**

In the limo on the way back to the mansion that evening, Joey couldn't help but feel that Kaiba was being too quiet, even for him. There was something about the way his eyes were moving. Normally when he was in a bad mood he would just glare at you with those mind-meltingly angry eyes until you either had to thump him or run for your life, but this time was different. It looked almost as if he didn't know what to look at, as if he was sat in a car full of ugly old naked people or a couple making out. Joey reached out, and placed a hand on his arm.

"_Are you ok?"_

"_What?"_ Kaiba jumped in his seat, knocking his head on the roof of the limo. _"Oww."_ He put a hand to place he had hit and rubbed it gingerly.

Joey looked up into his eyes, head on one side. _"What's up with you?"_

Kaiba scowled. _"Nothing is up with me. I am fine."_

The golden-haired boy frowned. _"You're a terrible liar Kaiba. You've been weird all day."_

Seto sighed, and let his gaze match the amber curiosity steadily. _"You'll find this hard to believe, but I don't much like the press."_

"_What?"_

"_Just as I expected. Everyone presumes that just because I'm on the television all the time and because I make certain of providing my customers with a good show, they presume I enjoy it. But my life is my own, and I'd rather people could just accept that."_

Joey nodded. _"Alright, I can understand that, but it doesn't explain why you're acting so weird ever since we visited my Dad."_

"_I'm not acting weird."_ The blue-eyed teen retorted.

"_Yes. Yes you are."_

"_Well how am I supposed to act?" _Something in his tone almost sounded to Joey like the question wasn't rhetorical.

"_Don't you know?"_ He asked, as blue eyes began to dart about again, avoiding his gaze. They focused down into Kaiba's lap.

"_How would I?"_ Again a real question.

"_Well surely you gotta be happy for me. I saw my Dad."_

"_And you're happy about that?"_

"_Of course, I mean you gotta understand how that feels right?"_

Silence stretched its tensions out between them, and it dawned on Joey.

"_You can't? I mean…you can't even empathise? You don't understand how good it feels to get back someone you care about?"_

Seto stared. When had he ever lost someone to get them back? He had lost Joey, but Joey's coming back had been so…so…it wasn't the same.

Joey was dumbstruck. _"But what about Mokuba?"_

"_That's not the same. He's my brother."_

"_Yeah, but you love him like my Dad loves me. Think of how you felt all those times you got him back."_

Seto thought about it. Yes, he supposed Joey had a point. He did know what that rush of relief felt like. It was like a drug, rushing outwards from your chest until you just had to hold them or burst. Then what was this feeling? Jealousy? Could he be jealous of the way Joey reacted to his Dad? Was he really such a child?

His thoughts were interrupted as the car pulled up in front of the house. Joey hopped out and turned to watch as Seto followed him. He smiled, but the smile quickly faded as he realised Seto was looking past him, transfixed. He turned around.

There on the doorstep, holding Mokuba's hand, stood Olivia. Smiling nervously, her eyes sparkling and her hair moving a little in the breeze. She waited on the steps for them, and they moved slowly forwards to meet her.

"_Hello."_

"_Hi."_

Joey hung back and watched as, turning, Olivia moved to Seto's side and they walked into the house together. Mokuba tripped off into the living room as they walked naturally in the direction of the study. Joey felt as if he didn't want to watch, but he didn't know where to look. It too him a few moments to recognize the feeling, alien as it was to him.

Jealousy.

* * *

Poor poor Joey. Let's all hug him!

Ah my dears...if I owned Yugioh I'd be forcing my animators to put this to motion, but alas...these things cannot be.

Review review review!


	24. Secrets

I'd like to thank those of you who've been kind enough to review me. I really do enjoy this for its own sake, but I like to know if I'm appreciated.

Well, what more have I to say? Only that things are about to get very interesting...

* * *

**Chapter 24 – Secrets**

In an office looking out over the city, a sheaf of papers landed on the desk of Matthew Alexander as he stood looking out of the window. No matter which part of the skyline he chose to observe he found his eyes always drifted back to the Kaiba Corp Tower. It was automatic, as if every time he looked he expected to see a sign.

"_Sir?"_ The voice that addressed him was quiet and timid, as if a rabbit were speaking. He turned. His latest secretary stood unsteadily behind the desk, looking at him with large eyes. Her hair was the soft brown of a wild rabbit, and the way she moved, with a tentative and yet springing nervousness. Yes, she was a rabbit, and he could put up with that, at least for now.

"_Yes?"_

"_These are the results of your investigation into Seto Kaiba sir. Will that be all sir?"_

"_Yes good."_ As she turned to leave he would have thanked her, but he couldn't remember her name. He cast a lazy eye over the summary sheet, and began to flick through the profiles: Seto Kaiba, his little brother, that boy in all the press – now there was a weakness, the nurse…the nurse? He took the wad of papers and pulled the photos from the back, looking through them: Kaiba leaving his limo; Mokuba with some girl in an ice cream parlour; the puppy Joey and Kaiba at Domino Sanatorium – if his sources were correct that was where they were keeping Mr Wheeler; the nurse entering a shabby apartment; the nurse entering a building. Yes, she was pretty enough to make it worth his while. A smirk crept over his roseblush lips. Yes, she would do.

A week had passed now since she had returned to work, and the summer heat blazed around her as Olivia Newington carried armfuls of shopping into a café on the high street. She collapsed into a chair and dropped the bags of salad and strappy tops onto the floor. She sat inside, looking out into the sunlit high street. She peeled off her shirt and tossed it into a bag. A waiter asked her what she wanted and she ordered a freshly squeezed orange juice with

"_as much ice as you can fit in the glass."_

She let down her hair and readjusted it into a loose knot, keeping it out of her face. She fanned herself with a napkin. The people outside looked so happy and bright: kids with ice cream, women in big hats, men in shorts. The café was packed, in fact she had the very last table by the looks of it and although she was glad of the time to cool down, what she really wanted was to be out in it, out in the light. It was her first day off since the beginning of the heatwave, but Paul couldn't come with her because the light and heat were too much for him. She sighed. Suddenly, a little cough from behind her interrupted her thoughts.

"_Excuse me, I was wondering if I…"_

She turned around. The man before her wore a white shirt that was open at the top, and pale beige chinos. His silken black hair gave her the initial thought that he must be dying in the sun, but she was soon distracted by his pale, chiselled features, and the delicate blush that light up his cheeks.

"_might be permitted to sit with you."_ He glanced around at the packed café, _"There appears to be no-where else."_

"_Oh of course of course!"_ Olivia pulled her handbag off the chair and gestured towards it, a strand of hair once again slipping from its knot to fall over her face. She casually tucked it behind her ear. _"Everyone needs a chance to get out of the sun on a day like this."_ He sat in the proffered seat. _"Especially someone of your complexion."_

He put a hand to his cheek. _"Yes I must admit that I often catch the sun, I've only been out for an hour and I think my cheeks at least…"_

"_Yes I can see. I would recommend Aloe Vera, although from the plant, not from a chemist."_

The man smiled shyly. _"You obviously know your stuff. Are you a doctor?"_

Olivia blushed. _"Oh no, well in training to be one, but I'm a nurse."_

"_A very honest trade."_ He said politely, and then held out his hand to her. _"My name is Matthew."_

She took it, noticing the softness of the skin contrasting the firmness of the grip as they shook. _"I'm Olivia."_

Her drink arrived, and Matthew enquired as to what she was having and ordered the same. She sipped her drink through her straw, it was wonderfully refreshing. The same strand became untucked again and brushed over her nose, she replaced it.

"_So how long have you been a nurse then Olivia?"_

"_Oh, about seven years."_

He laughed, it was an attractive laugh. _"I can hardly believe that, you cannot be older than I am. You can't be more than 23."_

Olivia looked up into the dark brown eyes. _"How old are you?"_

"_I am 26."_

"_28."_

"_I honestly don't believe you."_

"_Well that's your problem isn't it?"_

They laughed. They talked, though more often it seemed to be him listening and her talking. She talked about working as a nurse in the hospital, and how stressful it had been until she had been given the chance to work privately, although she wouldn't say who for. She talked about how glad she was to have time away from work to spend at home.

"_But you're not at home now."_

"…_No…Sometimes I just need some time for myself…it's not easy."_

She even found herself telling him about Paul, how soon he would find it hard to leave their apartment, how it felt to watch him lying exhausted from simply taking a walk outside, how it felt to watch him staring at his flute case, knowing that he would never play again. How it felt, just how it felt. She drained the last of the melted ice water from her glass, and caught a glimpse of her watch.

"_Oh holy shit! Look at the time! I have to dash!" _She stood abruptly and thrusting her hand into her bag began to root through her purse to find the money for the drink, but found a hand resting on her arm. She looked down into the dark eyes.

"_Don't worry. I'll get that."_

"_Oh no! I couldn't!"_

"_Just gather your things and get where you have to be."_ He spoke soothingly, eloquently, his eyes were warm.

As she hurried out of the café she couldn't help but throw glances back at the man she had literally just met. He smiled and waved to her, and then he was out of sight.

Back in the café, Matthew Alexander smiled as he swirled the remaining ice in his glass. That had really been too easy. She had opened up to him like a book, and no doubt the next time they met it would be all too easy to get the information he wanted from her. He had been right though, she was pretty enough to make it an interesting pursuit. In fact…in fact she was quite…captivating.

He drained his glass, and paid for the drinks, and left the café. Strolling down the road images flickered over in his mind: her rich hazelly eyes as they looked at him, so full of honesty and trust; that rather wilful strand of hair that seemed ever to wish to be dusting her jawline. A lover's caress. How poetic. Yes…she really was Captivating. And that made the potential difficulties of seducing her so very much more appealing.

**xXx xXx xXx xXx xXx xXx**

I can't help feeling that Joey is hiding something from me. I keep catching him glancing at me, but he looks away almost immediately. His eyes are sad. He's hurting and I don't know why.

We went to see Mr Wheeler again today, and he seems to be making good progress. I spoke to him, and he thanked me for helping Joey. It made me feel guilty, because I know that's something is wrong. He's keeping secrets from me and I can't stand it. I'm accustomed to knowing what's going on around me. It's my right dammit.

I have to know, I'm worried about him.

**o o o o o o o o o o o o o**

Joey sat, curled up in a chair in the window, his sketchpad in his lap. He was exhausted. Every day he pushed an pushed himself: walking further than was advisable; sneaking into the gym to lift the lightest weights when he was supposed to be in bed; praying that one morning he'd just wake up and find that it was all a dream, or at least that he was better. He hated how pathetic he'd become. The way he could scarcely lift a jug of water, let alone bear his whole weight on his forearms. His bandages were all gone now, and the scars on his thigh alone were enough to make him feel nauseous. Where before there had been unbroken golden skin wound over toned muscle there was now shapelessness, and a starburst tear scar where his thighbone had come shooting out of his leg. The base of his left palm was a maze of scar tissue, and those were simply the most prominent. There were so many that only Olivia had seen. They would fade, but they would never leave him. He was branded for his recklessness.

He hadn't spent any real time with Kaiba since the press conference. Ever since Olivia had come back he had been back working full time, perhaps even more than usual. He'd visit but he wasn't entirely sure where Kaiba's office was, and he knew it was at least another flight of stairs up. Stairs were a problem. He'd been in such a hurry to lose at least one crutch that he hadn't realised how weak his legs really were. For his efforts he'd managed to fall and twist his right ankle getting out of the shower this morning. Olivia wasn't around to notice and he really didn't want any trouble, so he hadn't mentioned it, but the second crutch was now necessary even to walk on the flat. He could deal with the pain, he'd already coped with a hell of a lot, but if he could avoid moving just for a little bit it would be appreciated. All the same, he wanted to see him.

Kaiba was in love with Olivia, he realised that now, but he couldn't help feeling jealous, and not to mention stupid for hoping that Kaiba's emotion towards him had meant something more. It was as if he wanted to be disappointed.

He was drawing an angel, an angel with dark hair and a penetrating gaze. He stood parallel to the edge of the page, pointing out of the picture. He stood over a figure, a man huddled and dark and indistinct. The angel was guarding the figure, but his eyes looked over to the corner of the page, where stood another figure, a woman in white walking away from the scene, her eyes cast over her shoulder to look at the angel, her hair cascading down her back.

Joey gripped the pad like a vice, his eyes burning into the page. He took it and cast it behind him, his voice rising from the darkness within him like a roaring spectre.

"_Why the fucking ALLEGORY? What a fucking cliché!"_

He put his hands over his eyes, pencil still clutched in his hand. Buried in his own thoughts he didn't hear the gentle step of the person entering the room. Didn't hear the notepad being picked off the floor. Didn't hear the intake of breath as the image was comprehended. Didn't notice a thing until he felt the hand on his shoulder, and the notepad being slipped into his lap. He opened his eyes.

Seto crouched in front of the chair too look up into Joey's face. He read the lines beneath the fingertips, lines of strain and worry, lines of pain. He waited until Joey moved his hands.

"_Are you going to tell me what's bothering you?"_

Joey's eyes were wide at first but then narrowed into a frown.

"_What do you want?"_

An odd question, or so it seemed to Seto. _"To know why you've been acting to strangely around me. To talk to you."_

The boy shook his golden head, _"I mean what do you want with me? Why am I staying here?"_

"_I don't understand. You're here because you have no where else to go. You know that."_

Joey uncurled himself a little, sitting up. _"Alright. Then why have me in your house? Why keep me close when you could afford to put me up somewhere else. Why am I here?"_

Seto found himself frowning, but in confusion. _"Don't you want to be here?"_

"_That's not the POINT!" _Joey yelled. _"Answer my damn question Kaiba!"_

Seto stood up, turning away from Joey. Was this how he wanted to tell him? In the middle of an argument? Just burst out and say those three words that would make him more vulnerable than he could ever sensibly wish to be? No. Logic dictated that this was not the time. Only reveal your own desires once the other party has revealed theirs, and then only if the two parties desires' complement one another. How to deal with now?

"_Because I wish to help you recover."_

"_Why?" _Joey was on his feet now.

"_Because it's important that I do."_

"_Why?" _He had moved closer.

"_It just is."_

"_Why Kaiba goddammit why?" _Joey roared into his ear, standing right behind him, body pressed to his own.

"_Because you MATTER to me!" _Seto spun round and grabbed Joey by the shoulders, pulling his face close and staring into his eyes. _"Because on the afternoon before you fell I couldn't decide if I wanted to punch you or kiss you, and even if I could have decided the thought terrified me. Because when you fell down the stairs that day a part of me died. Because when you woke up I found a part of me I'd forgotten I had. Because when you reacted to me the way you did I felt like I'd been punched in the face. Because when you slept in my arms I felt like I'd come home. Because you matter."_

Joey's eyes were wide, stunned. A few seconds passed. He stuttered when he spoke. _"But…but…but Olivia…"_

"_What about her?"_

"_I thought you…that you…"_

"_You thought I was screwing her?" _Kaiba shook Joey's shoulders and let them go, turning away again. He ran a hand through his hair, and shot Joey a look that would have burned the devil himself. _"Not everything is about sex Wheeler. Just because you think I'm a jerk doesn't mean you have the right to assume that I can't have friends. I care about Olivia. She's been there for me. Her happiness is important to me. I trust her. I love her. It doesn't have to be about sex."_

"_I don't think you're a jerk."_

"_What?"_

"_How could I after all you've done for me?"_

"_Whatever. I'm too angry to care right now."_ Seto took a step away, but something occurred to him and he turned back towards Joey. _"How dare you think that of her?"_

"_What?"_

"_After all she's done for you, for both of us. She's a beautiful person and she loves her husband."_

Joey bristled._ "That doesn't mean anything."_

"_It means everything!"_

"_It didn't to my Mom!"_

Seto found himself staring at Joey. Joey winced visibly as if he'd said something he knew he shouldn't.

"_What do you mean?"_

He looked at his feet, speaking rapidly and quietly. _"She cheated on him. I saw. I don't think Dad knows."_

"_What do you mean you don't think your Dad knows."_

"_Well I never said."_ Amber eyes still pinned to the floor. Seto took a step forward. _"Neither does my sister. It's why I had to stay. It wasn't his fault. He hadn't done anything wrong."_

Seto watched the shoulders move convulsively.

"_You've never told anyone."_

"_Never."_

"_How old were you?"_

"_Ten."_

"_Joey."_ Seto moved forward, slipping a hand under Joey's chin to bring their gazes level. _"You shouldn't have been put in that position."_ He knew what it was like to be a kid with an adult's problems.

Amber eyes warmed a little at the touch, but then paled again and he looked away. Seto let his hand slip down onto Joey's shoulder.

"_What is it?"_

"_You…you really…I matter to you?"_

"_Yes." _Said Seto, exasperated. Joey smiled shyly and they moved closer. Faces inches apart, amber eyes flickering closed and suddenly

"_Oh OW! Oh fucking ow!"_ Kaiba's shoe had connected with Joey's ankle, and attempting to hop on a leg that can't support your bodyweight is a bad idea. Grabbing Kaiba's collar in order to support himself only caught the C.E.O. off guard and to make a long story short, they ended up on the ground in a tangled mess.

"_God Joey what the hell have you done to your ankle?"_ Seto stared at the purply mass of flesh that had somehow ended up 3 inches from his face.

Joey, trapped underneath the larger teen found himself staring at Kaiba's crotch. He snorted, giggled, and eventually burst out laughing. He roared out loud as Kaiba helped him sit up, eyes streaming with laughter, oblivious to the questions and nervous looks. In fact the first thing that he noticed was another laugh, a laugh he had never heard before. Kaiba was laughing with him.

* * *

Sob! I don't own Yugioh, because if I did then Matthew Alexander and Olivia would be real!!!

Review me, go on, ah go on.


	25. Artistry

Guys, I really have to apologise. It's been AGES since I updated. But here at last is the next chapter, which I hope you enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 25 - Artistry**

Joey smiled dimly at the bandage on his ankle. Sure, another injury was the last thing he had needed, but in some way or another it had helped him, and now he knew how Kaiba felt. Speaking of the dark haired teen…

"_How are things coming along?"_

Seto strolled into the room as Joey walked slowly between narrow parallel railings. He had a distinct limp on his twisted ankle, but it had had a few days to heal now, and even Olivia, who had to be quite frank been thoroughly livid at just about anyone she could find that Joey had been attempting to walk with a single crutch, let alone that he was showering without assistance, was starting to calm down.

"_It's alright really."_ Said the golden haired teen, face lined with concentration as he attempted to walk unaided_. "Not quite the parallel bars I'm used to."_

"_No I guess not."_ Seto smirked, and Joey smiled in response before doing a complete double take and shooting him a look that screamed: "How in the hell-!"

"_I saw you once."_ Seto said, interrupting Joey's thoughts before they were even fully formed, he wandered over and placed a hand absent-mindedly on the bar next to Joey's. _"At school, the high bar."_

Joey's eyes lit up for a second, and then fell as the agony rose in his chest. His face crumpled into anguish and he looked away.

Seto leant around to try and look into Joey's eyes, but the blonde had turned too far. He moved his hands, one on Joey's and the other now on his shoulder. _"You were beautiful."_ Joey's eyes jumped open and he looked around into the tender azure eyes. _"You still are."_

For a moment Joey opened his mouth and was about to say something, but it all seemed so long ago now and maybe it wasn't a great idea to start spouting off about dreams you had while in a coma, and so he just stopped, and looked.

Kaiba smiled, and…was that a blush? Joey moved closer, planning to inspect the offending cheeks but then finding himself closer than he had intended as they moved towards completing what they had started a few days ago and never finished. This was it. He was going to kiss him…Seto Kaiba…Shit…Getting closer…I…

"_Bloody hell Joey I leave you alone for two minutes and this is what I come back to find?"_

The boys sprung apart, faces bright red and eyes darting over to

"_Good morning Olivia." _Said Kaiba, somewhat more gruffly than usual.

"_Seto."_ Said the brunette, dumping her papers on a table and looking more than a little amused. _"Joey I thought I told you to get on with your exercises."_ She feigned a stern look. Joey laughed in response, tension lost in embarrassment, but Seto, still beet red turned and strode out of the room. Olivia sniggered a little at his retreating form. _"Oh dear. I think I upset him." _Joey laughed still more at this, and Olivia made her way to his side. She then said something that made him roar. _"Honestly, sometimes that boy has such a stick up his butt."_

Joey creased up in laughter, and began to lose control in his legs a little. Olivia steadied him and he calmed down. _"Sorry if we…I dunno…"_

"_Joey I am quite aware how Seto feels about you, and I'm almost certain you have similar feelings."_ She smiled up at him as she felt his leg muscles. _"Your instability comes from the fact that your calf muscles have wasted more than your thighs, so we'll have to work on those."_

"_I know," _said Joey, letting himself be led to a chair, _"and I do, but some people…you know…wouldn't think it was right."_

That was enough to snap Olivia right out of medical mode. She stared at him sharply. _"Don't you ever listen to anyone who tells you that. There's enough hatred and pain in this world without us listening to those who want to stop people who can love each other and be happy."_ She took a deep breath. _"Some people try to find any excuse to keep people apart, because they are selfish."_ She paused. _"I met my husband, Paul, when I was sixteen and he was eighteen. I loved him, but my parents did everything they could to try and stop us from seeing each other, because they thought it would hurt my grades, and they'd be damned if their daughter didn't get the highest grades in the school. For some people it's all about how it makes Them look."_

Joey put a hand on her shoulder and smiled at her. As their eyes met he felt a pang of guilt and looked away. _"I'm sorry Olivia."_

Olivia frowned. _"What for?"_

Joey ran a hand through his hair, _"I misjudged you. Kaiba was right. I thought…I don't know what I thought, but I was wrong. I'm sorry."_

Olivia patted his shoulder as she stood up. _"Never mind eh? Let's just get you working on those calf muscles."_

xXx xXx xXx xXx xXx

I've just received a memo from the office. It seems that someone has been snooping around in our files. It's probably just another reporter, but I ought to check it out.

I still can't believe I admitted all that…stuff to him. I trust him I guess, but was I really ready? Revealing myself to him like that means dealing with how I feel. It means a response. He could still reject me. It's seems unlikely given the way he's been around me, but it's still possible. That and he still insists on calling me by the name I got from my bastard adoptive father.

At least I'm busy. Busy means less time to think. I have to get rid of those press once and for all and I'm hoping I will soon find a way to do it. In the meantime I have to arrange a new consignment of graphics cards to Hatoshi, that little backwater gaming corporation that somehow seems to have doubled its stocks in a year. At least they're not in competition, or then I'd have no choice but to crush them.

Joey is doing well, and his hair is growing back so quickly you can't even see the scars if you look now. He's not strong, but Olivia says he'll be walking unaided within a week, depending on the ankle. Every time I see him, it's like I've forgotten how bright his smile is, or how perfect his features are, and I get to feel the first look all over again. Screw the fears of rejection, I can do this.

I'm going to give it a shot. As soon as he's done with his exercises I'll talk to him. That gives me…half an hour. I wonder if Alexander is free.

o o o o o o o o o o o

When Joey had finished exercising for the morning, Olivia had decided that it was high time he had more artist's supplies. She had informed Seto, who had given her some money for the purpose as he made his way into the Physio suite.

She had the limo drop her off in the high street and asked it to return in an hour. She was looking for a little shop on a side-street that she had found when looking for Joey's pencils a few weeks earlier. Today she was wearing a crisp pair of linen trousers and a white shirt with a strappy top underneath. As she ambled along in the sunshine she let down her hair, leaving it to swing over her shoulders. She was happy. Seto and Joey were becoming closer, Paul was showing some signs of a minor improvement, his appetite was coming back. Even though she knew it was only temporary, it gave her joy. As the sun caressed the skin of her exposed forearms she wandered into the cool little side-street and found the boutique she was looking for.

The door chimed happily with a bell, a tinkling sound that made her smile. She stood for a moment, her eyes adjusting to the slight dimness of the shop. A little man ambled out from the side.

"_Good afternoon Miss. How may I-! Ah! You're the young lady who came in looking for materials for Master Joey!"_ He exclaimed, face breaking into a warm smile as he clapped his hands together.

Olivia blushed happily at being remembered. When she had come in before she had been utterly lost until the man had approached her and asked if he could help. She had had a list, but no clue as to where to look. The man had only taken one look at the paper to instantly know who it was for. Joey was a regular customer and apparently had the odd habit of always buying one of each of the different makes of four B pencil. He said that they had different qualities.

"_Thank you for remembering. I'm here for him again as a matter of fact. I was hoping to get your advice on how to get Joey into painting."_

"_Painting? Oh an excellent idea! I myself have been trying to get Master Joey into painting for years. Has he chosen a medium?"_

"_A what? Uh…oh! No, it's meant to be a surprise for him."_

"_A truly marvellous idea! I think I have just the thing."_ The little man bustled off into another room, beckoning to Olivia to follow him. As she left the room she heard the sound of the bell indicating that the door had opened and turned her head to see, but the entrance was obscured from view by a shelf. The shopkeeper lead her over to a stand.

"_Here you can see what I would suggest. Water-soluble colour pencils. They work excellently as crayons but add a small amount of water and you have a watercolour. A truly capital invention! I…Oh." _He frowned as the noise of a trilling phone caught their ears. _"I'm afraid I simply must go and get that. Would you excuse me?"_

Olivia smiled and the little man tottered off out of the room. Finding herself alone she returned to the stand and looked over the examples. Yes it all seemed really perfect, but what colours to pick and what books? She was leafing through a seemingly useless guide to shading when she heard a small gasp, followed by a chuckle. She turned.

"_Well, I never expected to find you here of all places. Medical practitioners aren't exactly renowned for their love of the arts."_

"_Oh hello. It's Matthew isn't it."_

She extended a hand, and Matthew Alexander, taking it in both of his with, (Was that a blush?), a tender firmness, shook it warmly.

"_You remembered! Well now what brings you to a place like this Olivia?"_

Olivia glanced around to show how lost she felt. _"I'm not here for myself at all. I am buying art supplies for a patient of mine. I want to get him into painting. He's an excellent…oh what is the word? He's very good at drawing."_

"_A draftsman?"_

"_Yes. That's it precisely."_

"_Well you're in luck. I happen to know a thing or two about paints."_ He moved around her to look at the stand. _"What age is the patient?"_

"_He's seventeen."_

"_Well then I suppose he better really be thinking about making a proper step into the proper stuff. I somehow don't think watercolours are really a young man's medium."_ He took a step away from the pencils the shopkeeper had been suggesting and made a move towards the oils.

"_How do you mean?"_

"_Well, he's a strong personality?"_

"_Yes."_

"_He has passion…spirit?"_

"_Undoubtedly so."_

"_He works manually?"_

"_Well…yes."_

"_Well then he wants a medium that he can get his hands into, a physical medium. Drawing is all about bold movements, the difference of pencil stroke between types of shading. Watercolours would be beneath him. He wouldn't want to be sitting so still."_

Olivia nodded. _"Yes of course, you're right."_

Matthew, leant over into a stand eagerly, looked back over his shoulder. _"How much do you have to spend?"_

Olivia paled at the thought of the roll of cash Seto had thrust into her purse. _"Enough."_

"_Enough to really kit him out?"_

"_Well yes."_

"_Do you have transport?"_

"_Well I can arrange…"_

"_No problem, I could drive you back myself actually."_ He flushed. _"Well, only if that is alright with you."_

"_Oh of course! Thank you."_

"_Wonderful." _Matthew smiled genuinely, and buried himself in the shelf again. _"First and foremost, you'll need this."_

Olivia found herself clutching a bottle of yellow oil.

"_Linseed oil, for keeping the paint workable. Then a large amount of white, and black."_ He selected two tubes. _"A blue, a yellow, a red, a verdant green, a good basic flesh tone, a brown. That should do for paints."_

Olivia, arms full of tubes and pots, followed Matthew over to a stand full of brushes. She quickly developed a rather large stack of these cradled in her left elbow. This was soon followed by a palette knife, a palette and a bottle of turps. Matthew was just turning round to hand her the first canvas when he realised that she was on the verge of a rather comedic tumble, and stopped. He stared at her, as she wobbled in an attempt to balance her load, and had to try very hard in order to maintain a straight face.

"_Do you need a hand?"_

"_Erm…if it wouldn't be too much trouble."_

They took their load to the counter, and returned to the stands with the shopkeeper.

"_Now Mr…Benson. What have you got in the way of easels?"_

A series of easels were produced but, in the end, Olivia couldn't help but choose the nicest one, made of polished wood, that stood at about 7ft tall when fully extended. She and Matthew picked a series of canvas that ranged in size from smaller than the palm of her hand to that of a life size portrait, and then she took the rather dazed looking shopkeeper to the till and handed over more cash than he had ever seen in his life, while Matthew fetched his car. Once they had loaded the supplies into his open topped sports car they paused. Matthew looked over at a little coffee shop.

"_Have you got fifteen minutes?"_

"_Oh no I mustn't."_

"_Oh come on. I've just helped you spend a horrendous amount of money. The least I can do is buy you a drink."_

They sat in the dim little coffee shop drinking iced coffees. Matthew leant coolly back into his chair while Olivia sat forward with her elbows on the table.

"_So where on earth did you learn so much about paint?"_

Matthew frowned a little at the question, and stared into his glass. As the pause became more than a minute Olivia felt she must have offended him, and was about to apologise when he interrupted her.

"_My sister painted." _He said simply.

Past tense. The past tense struck her physically, winding her somehow. _"When did she…?" _ She regretted asking the moment she had as he winced under her gaze. He drew a ragged breath, took a swig of his coffee and said

"_I last saw her when we were sixteen. She fainted at dinner. She was taken to her room. A doctor came, and then left, and I wasn't allowed to see her. Two weeks later my parents put me on a plane from Cairo and I ended up in England where I went to boarding school, and then University in London. I haven't had contact with my parents since I left."_

Olivia was stunned. _"I'm sorry. I'm so…sorry."_

Matthew shot her an almost angry look, but on seeing the worry in her face he softened somewhat. _"Thank you…My sister…Faith, she was a painter. Her painting, she did watercolours, was always very ethereal, abstract, angels and lightness and pale colourings. She talked a lot about people's mediums being a matter of their soul, and what their soul wanted from their art. Since she…she…since I lost her, I've read a lot about it, looked at paintings, tried to see what she meant. I never understood her at the time. I think I do now." _He closed his eyes a little, breathing softly. Olivia put a hand on his own and his eyes shot open, staring down at the touch as if it was utterly alien to him. He looked up at her, blushed deeply and pulled his hand away. He drained his glass, and stuttered slightly, _"Sh…shall we go?"_

The drive back was bright and warm, and Olivia laughed at how silly her hair must look blowing about in the breeze. She tried desperately to get it out of her eyes so that she could direct Matthew to the mansion but luckily he seemed to have a pretty good idea of where he was going. The gates swung open for them as the cameras recognised her, and the swarm of paparazzi parted around them like the Red Sea. They pulled up in the driveway, and a few servants came to help Olivia, and her copious shopping into the house. Olivia turned to Matthew.

"_You're more than welcome to come in, I'm sure Jo-!…my patient could use a few tips."_

Matthew smiled. _"I'd love to…"_ He glanced a nervous look back at the crowd behind the gates. _"You certainly seem to be popular."_

Olivia's face fell. _"Yes, I guess you could do without being all over the papers. I forget. I guess I'm used to it."_

She waved brightly at him as he drove down the gravel driveway. It was nice for her to have someone, someone outside of work, and home. Someone who was outside the issues that she could talk to. She was glad she had him and…

"_Matthew!" _She shouted, and the car halted abruptly. _"Wait. You haven't got my number!"_

Numbers exchanged, Matthew drove away with a satisfied smirk on his features. As the crowd closed up behind him he couldn't help but take one last glance in his rear-view mirror, watching her turn and enter the house. She had given him her number, she trusted him, and he had her exactly where he wanted her. She'd essentially given away the name of her patient, not to mention her employer, whose name was emblazoned on the gates in letters over a foot tall. She was just dying to pour her heart out to him, and once she shared all that, he knew that it would be almost impossible for her to resist him. Yes, she was utterly seduced.

And yet…and yet…there was something about her. Her joy, the way her hair blew about and her laughter in the bright sunshine, it had made him smile too. Somehow he had ended up letting her know a great deal more about himself than he had ever intended. More than he had ever told anyone. He was the impersonal, you exposed yourself to him and it was never the other way around. It made him angry that he could have been so weak. She was captivating. He had said so before, but had he really been aware of how truly captivated he was?

No matter. He had a greater purpose. He had a reason, and his pathetic feelings were utterly outside of that sphere.

* * *

I don't own Yugioh. I wish I did. I'd love to hear from you guys. It's your enthusiasm for this that helps spur me on. Please Review! 


	26. Trapped

Hey, it's been a while, but I hope everyone's still interested to know what's happening

Thanks to **Zaya**. You really cheered me up about writing this.

I don't own YuGiOh. Although that is fairly obvious.

Enjoy...

Oh, and for those of you who are wondering what Matthew Alexander's agenda is, you're going to have to wait a little while to find out...

* * *

**Chapter 26 – Trapped**

As Olivia left the Kaiba Mansion in search of painting supplies, Seto was hovering in the shadows outside the Physio suite. The light streaming in through the windows illumined Joey's figure making his hair dazzle like gold. The boy's movements were cautious, and his legs clearly unsteady. Concentration furrowed his brows as he took one step, two, three. Entirely beautiful. Somehow Seto felt he could just watch him forever.

"_Are you just gonna stand there and stare at me Kaiba?"_

Seto blushed deeply, and stepped into the light. Joey glanced back at him over his left shoulder.

"_Well that's better, at least now I can perve on you perving on me."_

Seto's face was practically purple, he strode over to the window, not quite able to deal with Joey's remark. It was a sign of returning confidence, no doubt, but before the accident he would have been able to ignore it. The problem with being friends was that you couldn't just look. The problem with being attracted to someone was that look was all you wanted to do. Well…not all, but it would do.

"Whatcha thinking about?"

Seto coughed._ "Erm...well…a poem actually."_

"_How literary of you…what poem?"_

Joey had left the equipment and stood behind him now, so close that his breath hit the back of his neck, standing the hairs on end.

"_Have you heard of W.H Auden?"_ Looking over his shoulder Seto saw Joey shake his head. _"Just a couple of lines of his reminded me of that night…"_ He turned to meet the amber eyes, his face flushed, and his breath ragged, _"That night when you slept in my arms."_

Tentatively, hesitantly, and painfully slowly, Joey reached out a hand and put it to the blue-eyed teen's cheek. Seto watched the amber eyes as they flitted over his features, eventually staring unabashedly at his lips. The golden-haired teen closed the gap between them, and when he whispered his response, their lips brushed lightly together.

"_Now listen Kaiba, I'm not the most forward of types, and I've never done this before in my life, so if I get it wrong I apologise, but I think if I wait much longer for you to make your move I'll go grey so mmmf!"_

Before Joey could finish his speech he was interrupted by the forceful shutting of his lips by Seto's own. His eyes flung wide open he saw the other man's expression, clearly as surprised as his own. They broke apart.

"_What was that?"_ Joey exploded, shock plainly printed on his features.

"_You think I know?"_ Seto muttered, eyes scanning his shoes. _"And for God's sake Joey, call me Seto."_

"_You serious?"_ Joey's expression broke into a broad smile as Seto nodded.

"_Why wouldn't I be?"_

As Joey performed a small dance in front of him, Seto rolled his eyes. Using the sheer force of his willpower to regain control of his complexion, he strode off towards the door.

"_Hey! Where are you going?"_

"_It's a beautiful day. We should be outside."_

Joey grabbed his crutches as he hurried to follow the dark haired teen out of the room. _"But I thought we couldn't go outside…what about the cameras?"_

"_I'm Seto Kaiba. I can do whatever I want."_

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Helicopters are pretty awesome things. I don't think we flew for all that long, I kinda fell asleep. That was pretty embarrassing. Anyway, Seto (gotta get used to calling him that), has taken me to a beach, which is so deserted I'm guessing it's a private one. I'll ask him in a minute, but right now I'm concentrating on sketching his nose. It's a bit of a fiddle. I dunno how it can be so darn angular. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd had some work done on it. I'll ask him.

That possibly wasn't the best idea I ever had. He just threw my 4B pencil into the sea. I didn't know he could be so sulky.

o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o

The two lay on the golden sands together. Seto had deigned to remove his coat, and had even rolled up the sleeves of his crisp white shirt. He lay on his back with his eyes closed. Joey lay on his side, facing the C.E.O., the sketchpad laid out on the sand between them. Seto watched the golden glow of the inside of his eyelids while beside him the pencil darted backwards and forwards over the page, it's scraping in tune with the roaring of the waves. It was nice, it was rare for him to spend an day like this. In fact he couldn't really remember the last time he spent a day away from work. Maybe he should call in. He reached into his pocket.

"_Joey where have you put my phone?"_

"_Somewhere you wouldn't think to look."_

One blue eye opened slowly to register its opponent.

"_I assure you Mr Wheeler, that if you are hiding it on your person I will find it."_

A 6B pencil dropped into the sand as Joey sat up slightly.

"_I doubt that somehow."_

A more than slightly cheeky smirk stole into the young C.E.O.'s expression. Sitting up slowly, a hand drifted over and buried itself under Joey's arm. Attempting to hold his features still only lasted the golden-haired teen for a nanosecond as he burst out laughing, giggling madly, his head thrown back, hair sparkling in the sunlight, throwing himself, fingers first, at his blue eyed assailant. Desperately trying to withhold his urge to break, Seto forced his face into a look of grim concentration as he battled to win the tickle fight. However, as Joey, shifting himself over to lean over him, began, without a shadow of a doubt to win, he found it hard to stop his face from twitching, and soon he was roaring with laughter as loudly as his fellow.

"_Alright! Alright! I give up!"_

"_Beg me!"_

"_Wh-what?"_

"_You heard me rich-boy. Beg me!"_

"_Never!"_

"_It is useless to resist!"_

"_Alright! Please Joey! I give up. You win!"_

Beaming, Joey lay back against the sand as if nothing had happened, but allowed himself the pleasure of whistling a suitable tune. At the opening bars of Queen's "We are the Champions", Seto rolled his eyes, and in doing so spotted one of his bodyguards, lurking a short way behind him, whose gaze had been averted. Standing up, Seto marched down to the edge of the tide, and picking up a stone, threw it into the waves as hard as he could, hands shaking with a sudden rage.

He stood, wrapped in thought, until a shuffling, tripping step halted beside him. He didn't turn his head.

"_What is it?"_

The taller teen sighed, pushing his slender, pale hands deep into his pockets. _"You might be better off asking me what _this_ is."_

Joey frowned. _"This?"_

"_This. Us. Whatever you want to call it."_

"_Oh. I hadn't really thought about that bit yet."_

"_Haven't you? It's all that's been on my mind lately."_

"_Well…what do you think this is?"_

"_I don't know, but I know what it can't be."_

"_What can't it be?"_

"_A relationship."_

When Olivia had returned to the mansion, she had been more than a little surprised at the tension she found. It was clear that Joey and Seto had had some sort of argument, but neither was willing to speak about it. In fact neither seemed particularly interested in speaking to her at all. In the end she had left Joey his room surrounded by his new materials and gone to work on her revision of the bones in the skull.

By the next morning it was getting ridiculous, and Olivia found herself wandering around the Kaiba mansion, simply from a lack of better things to do. Eventually she was in Seto's corridor, and walked naturally towards the door of his office, although her eyes lingered on the door which she had never seen behind. She was surprised to find the door ajar, and walking quietly in, more surprised to see Seto watching television. He faced away from her, eyes fixed on the screen, fixed on the face of a man. Olivia recognised the face. Gozaburo Kaiba.

"_I, Gozaburo Kaiba, make this my last will and testament. On the following conditions I bequeath all my possessions to my adoptive son Seto Kaiba. The first condition is that Seto must support his brother Mokuba fully until he leaves education, and that whatever education Mokuba takes, must be fully funded from Seto's inheritance. Mokuba's wedding and funeral expenses will also come from my estate. As will $100,000, to be put into a savings account, for every child he should have. The second condition concerns this tape. This tape is to be kept in copy, updated into every new technological format, for as long as Seto Kaiba remains alive. At least one copy must reside in Kaiba Corp., to be watched at least once a year, in order that its terms can be certain to be being kept, and any effects of its being breached can be put into motion. The third, that the Kaiba mansion be the permanent and principal residence of Seto Kaiba for the duration of his life, and that any alterations he wishes to make to said mansion must be put before the board of directors. The fourth, Seto Kaiba must remain in full possession and control of Kaiba Corp. for as long as he lives. The fifth and final point is as such: Seto Kaiba must marry by his 25__th__ birthday, and on no accounts, is ever to be allowed to enter into a homosexual relationship. Any breach of any or all of these points will result in Seto Kaiba losing any and all holds he has on my estate, including that which he has earned from it since my death. Any ideas copyrighted in his name will be forfeited, and all profits are to be subsumed into Kaiba Corp. He will be indebted to Kaiba Corp. for all expenses covering his education and upbringing, and that of his brother, and will be charged interest at a rate of 100 per annum. This is my last testament, and as such is irrefutable."_

The video ended as abruptly as it began, and the screen turned black. Seto, leaning forward in his chair, put his head in his hands, sighing deeply.

"You can come in Olivia."

She moved, sitting in the chair next to him. Looking at the hands that seemed to be clasping at his face, as if the closeness and darkness of the inside of his own palms could give him comfort.

"Why did he do that?"

"Because he hated me."

"Then why give you his money?"

"Because he knows that by doing this he can control me. Even from beyond the grave. Everything I do, he controls. I can never escape that. If I ever broke terms…I'd be ruined, beyond ruined. I'd have less than nothing. I'd be indebted more than I could ever repay, and I'd drag Mokuba down with me. The only way I could actually escape it would be…to die. And even if I did…" His breath came raggedly. "even for a moment…want to…hurt myself. I know in the end it would be because he wanted me to."

Olivia felt a deep anger, smouldering fiercely within her. An urge to protect this man, no more than a boy, a boy forced into a world of men so soon in life, a boy she loved as dearly as the son she may never have. Slipping out of her seat she knelt in front of him, and pulled him into a tight embrace.

"There's nothing I can do Olivia. I'm trapped."

Several hours later, Olivia walked out of the Kaiba mansion, with an expression that read of nothing more or less than utter sorrow. Turning on her mobile, she received three messages.

"Hi, can you go 2 pharmacy? New pills in. Can't get out of bed. Paul."

"Out of bed. Making pasta. What time you gonna be home?"

"Hi Olivia, good to bump into you again. Will be at Ponte Rialto on High Street 7. Come along if you're free. Hope to see you soon. Matthew x"

Olivia frowned. Why was Matthew inviting her for dinner? Could it be that he? No, that was ridiculous, and besides, it sounded fairly informal. As she got into her car she looked at her watch. 6.30. She could be at the restaurant in about 35 minutes. Paul wouldn't need his new pills for at least another week. Or she could go home. Go home to Paul, and his microwaved pasta, because he could no longer lift the saucepans. Go home to the frail, weak man who was slowly replacing her husband, the man who had been strong for her. Sat behind the wheel, it took several moments for Olivia to realise that her hands were trembling. Her breath was short, somehow not enough, and she felt dizzy. Was this a panic attack? She hadn't had one since school. Why was the thought of going home so terrifying? Why was she so confused? Taking a deep breath, she started her car and drove away towards the town centre, so busy with her own thoughts that she barely noticed the fact that there were only twenty reporters outside the gate.

As Olivia walked from the car park to the restaurant, she called her husband.

"Hello?"

"It's me."

"Hey Livvie. What time will you be back?"

"Actually sweetie, I won't be back for supper, I'm…meeting a friend."

"Ok. No problem. I'll see you later then."

"Yup."

"I love you."

"I-I know. Bye."

Why hadn't she said it? Why was she putting her phone on silent, when she knew Paul might need her? When she knew Seto or Joey might need her? Why was she checking her appearance in the window of a shop? Perhaps because just for once, she wanted to know what it was like not to have everyone depending on her. Perhaps because she just wanted to forget. Perhaps it was because of him.

He was sat fairly prominently in the restaurant, now wearing a closely fitted pinstripe suit, with a black silk tie. He rose to greet her.

"Olivia! I'm so glad you came."

Olivia blushed deeply. "Well I've wanted to eat here for quite a while. I haven't really had a chance."

"Ah." Said Matthew, returning to his seat, indicating her into a chair. "I see. So it has nothing to do with me at all." He feigned a mildly upset look.

"Oh no! Don't be so silly." Olivia laughed, her fear slipping into familiarity.

She took the glass of wine he offered, and ordered a bowl of Risotto ai Funghi. They talked for a while of trifling matters: how the summer was predicted as one of the hottest on record; how Italian wine was infinitely superior to just about any other. Eventually however, Matthew fell silent, and sat back in his chair, looking thoughtfully into his glass.

"Are you alright?"

Dark eyes looked slowly up into her own, flashing with emotion and intensity that was breath-taking, and stained Olivia's cheeks crimson.

"There's something you're not telling me."

"How do you mean?"

"I mean, Olivia, that although you are now somewhat more relaxed than when you arrived, something has happened, you are upset."

"You're very insightful." Olivia felt the wave of panic rise within her again, an overwhelming sense of stress that she could barely lift from her mind. She played with the unctuous rice in front of her. "Something has happened."

Matthew leant forward, and put his hand on her own. "Is it your husband?"

Olivia withdrew her hand from the table. "No. No, but it's about someone else I care about very much." Matthew gave her an enquiring look. "My employer…Seto Kaiba."

Matthew frowned. "You mean you actually know Kaiba? When we went there the other day I assumed you were one of the nurses working with the boy in the newspapers, but you've actually met him?"

Olivia nodded. "I'm the head nurse in charge of Joey's care. Seto and I work pretty closely together."

"Is that what this is about? Is he a bad employer?"

"No. Not at all. He's a very dear friend and a better boss than I could ever hope for, but he's in such an awful situation. I just feel so angry for him."

Matthew looked at her with his head on one side. "We are talking about the same man? He's rich beyond his dreams. What more could he want?"

"You don't understand, it comes at a price. I get so angry when I think of it. If two people love each other, surely nothing in this world should stand between them."

Matthew's eyes softened, became soulful. His response was barely a whisper. "Yes. Yes. I know what you mean." He paused, and seemed to come back to himself. "But what do you mean?"

Olivia took a deep breath. "His father made this…will…It makes all this stipulations…ridiculous, invasive stipulations. About the house, and his brother, even about his love life."

"His love life?"

"Yes, and now he's afraid that every moment he's with Joey he'll be caught somehow. He's trying so hard to deny his feelings, but it's just not fair that he has to do so."

"He's not allowed to be with Joey?"

"No."

"But he is?"

"Sort of. They have feelings for each other, there's no denying it."

As Olivia went to her car at the end of the evening, Matthew pulled a small digital recorder out of his pocket and stopped it. As he walked to his car he smiled. Faith had brought him nearer to his goal, and Faith at last was within his reach.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

I just found something attached to my pillow.

"Don't regret today. I don't. But I need time to think about what I have to do. This poem strikes me as more apt than ever.

Lay your sleeping head, my love,

Human on my faithless arm;

Time and fevers burn away

Individual beauty from

Thoughtful children, and the grave

Proves the child ephemeral:

But in my arms till break of day

Let the living creature lie,

Mortal, guilty, but to me

The entirely beautiful.

Soul and body have no bounds:

To lovers as they lie upon

Her tolerant enchanted slope

In their ordinary swoon,

Grave the vision Venus sends

Of supernatural sympathy,

Universal love and hope;

While an abstract insight wakes

Among the glaciers and the rocks

The hermit's sensual ecstasy.

Certainty, fidelity

On the stroke of midnight pass

Like vibrations of a bell,

And fashionable madmen raise

Their pedantic boring cry:

Every farthing of the cost,

All the dreaded cards foretell,

Shall be paid, but from this night

Not a whisper, not a thought,

Not a kiss nor look be lost.

Beauty, midnight, vision dies:

Let the winds of dawn that blow

Softly round your dreaming head

Such a day of sweetness show

Eye and knocking heart may bless,

Find the mortal world enough;

Noons of dryness see you fed

By the involuntary powers,

Nights of insult let you pass

Watched by every human love.

--W.H. Auden

Yours, Seto"

I wish I knew why.

* * *

Please review me folks. It helps bolster my enthusiasm! 


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